The opponents of a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline say the Iowa company should not get permit because the carbon dioxide it wants to transport isn’t a liquid, according to the Capital Dispatch.
The carbon dioxide would be transported by proposed pipelines from ethanol plants in Iowa would exist as a “supercritical fluid”. So it is in effect somewhere between a gas and a liquid, and opponents say the project does not qualify for a hazardous liquid pipeline permit.
Summit Carbon Solutions wants to lay more than 700 miles of pipe in Iowa to move the greenhouse gas to North Dakota for underground sequestration. The company says state lawmakers meant to include the supercritical status when they sought to regulate the transportation of “liquefied carbon dioxide.” State law does not explicitly define what that phrase means.
The dispute is part of a last-minute attempt by pipeline opponents to halt or delay a permit for Summit’s project. The project is set for a final evidentiary hearing with the Iowa Utilities Board next month. The company’s permit process started nearly two years ago.
There are pending motions to delay the hearing and to dismiss the company’s permit petition that were filed by a Floyd County landowner and the Sierra Club of Iowa. Several counties have joined the motions.
A Polk County District Court Judge may issue a ruling today on an injunction sought block the fetal heartbeat bill. Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic are asking to stop the measure signed by Governor Kim Reynolds Friday. The bill bans abortions after six weeks, which is about the time a fetal heartbeat is usually heard.
The hearing in Polk County took placed Friday afternoon as well.
The Iowa DNR’s statewide air quality alert ended at noon today. The alert recommended that people reduce long or intense outdoor activities due to the fine particulates in the air coming from Canadian wildfires.
The fires carry chemicals which in the presence of sunlight form ozone, an odorless gas.
The Sioux City Council will be asked today to authorize a grant application to the Iowa Department of Transportation for $150,000 in Iowa State Recreational Trails Program funding. The funding will go for a mountain bike trails project at Cone and Sertoma parks.
The public improvement project includes the construction of new shared-use trails, highly optimized bike-only trails and mountain bike amenities.
The Cone Park site will be located adjacent to the Cone Park Lodge and will provide trailhead access to 10.5 miles of natural trails and a single-track trail network with various difficulty levels. Beginner and intermediate skills development areas are planned, as well as pump and tot tracks and a progressive jump line.
If the council approves the resolution and the grant is awarded, the city agrees to pledge a 25% minimum local match contribution and commit to adequately maintaining the trail for a minimum of 20 years, according to city documents.
Jessica Lopez-Walker announced her candidacy for a seat on the Sioux City council over the weekend. Lopez-walker is an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and holds degrees in psychology and art from Nebraska Indian College. Lopez-Walker is a small business owner and seamstress and has been employed at Fedex the past four years.
She is also an instructor at Winnebago for Ho Chunk Renaissance and Little Priest Tribal College. Lopez-walker formally announced her candidacy at the second-annual missing and murdered indigenous relatives pow wow that was held Saturday evening at Riverside park.
Trisha rivers of Sioux City also announced her candidacy for a seat on the Sioux City Community School District Board of Education at the pow-wow.
Rivers works as the Siouxland project director for the indigenous-led non-profit Great Plains Action Society. She is an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and serves on many boards and committees in the region, including the Sioux City warming shelter and the native American advisory board for the Sioux City Police Department.
Most recently Rivers was the recipient of the 2022 Young Women of Excellence Award and the Human Rights Commission War Eagle Award.
The Iowa chapter of the American Heart Association is launching a pilot program that aims to help a growing number of Iowans overcome the risks of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, which afflicts almost half of us.
Wesley Franklin, the agency’s community impact director, says “Check. Change. Control.” will initially focus on 250 central Iowans to better manage their high blood pressure before the program eventually goes statewide.
