Landowners Concerned about Proposed Pipeline Meet with Delaware County Supervisors

Landowners concerned about the proposed pipeline coming through Delaware County met with the County Board of Supervisors on Friday morning.

A company called Navigator CO2 is proposing the Heartland Greenway project – which is 1,300 miles of new liquid CO2 pipeline in the Midwest – with over 800 miles here in Iowa, passing through 33 Iowa counties. It’s designed to capture carbon dioxide emissions produced by industrial facilities, including ethanol plants like the one in Dyersville. Navigator is seeking non-exclusive 50-foot permanent easements on farmland along the route, with the pipe to be buried several feet below the ground’s surface.

The pipeline is proposed to travel west through Delaware County – starting at the ethanol plant on the west edge of Dyersville, heading north of Earlville, Delaware and Manchester and then into northern Buchanan County and the southwest tip of Fayette County before heading west through the state.

Landowners expected to be impacted by the pipeline project were contacted last year by the company, with a hearing held in Manchester last August. Since then, residents have been sharing their concerns with elected officials in hopes to stop the pipeline from coming through. 

Supervisor Shirley Helmrichs says around twenty people showed up for a respectful discussion with the County on Friday, with safety still the landowners’ main concern.

The Delaware County Board of Supervisors publicly announced last August they are opposed to the pipeline. And Helmrichs says six months later, the County is continuing to look into what they can do to prevent the pipeline from coming.

Helmrichs says the Iowa Utilities Board has not yet held their public hearing on the proposed pipeline project. She says she was told the company is still probably two to three years out from starting any construction.

photo courtesy of Janelle Tucker/KMCH