(Des Moines) An Iowa House of Representatives subcommittee advanced a bill that would prohibit the Iowa Utilities Commission from considering climate change when issuing a permit for a hazardous liquid pipeline.
House Study Bill 67 was introduced by Rep. Charley Thomson, R-Charles City, who has been an outspoken opponent, and intervenor, of the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline that would transport sequestered carbon dioxide from biofuels facilities to underground storage in North Dakota.
The Iowa Utilities Commission approved a permit for the project in June 2024.
Thomson said “climate change is a hypothesis” that is “not strong enough” to support a justification of public necessity for the construction of a pipeline.
He told reporters after the subcommittee meeting he thinks there is a “big question” on how reliable the theories about anthropogenic climate change are, adding “… I think that we as a Legislature need to make a statement that it is not at the level that justifies being taken into account.”
Anthropogenic climate change is the theory that human activity has created excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise. This is a theory accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Thomson said he “it’s pretty clear” the IUC “got some things wrong” when it approved the pipeline permit for the Summit Carbon Solutions.
“I believe very strongly they got the constitutional analysis wrong; I believe they got the insurance analysis wrong, and this is one of the areas where I think they were incorrect, is taking into account the climate change hypothesis, in the way they did,” Thomson said.
A representative from the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter spoke in opposition to the bill, saying that commissioners should be able to consider “a whole range of issues” including climate change.
The state chapter of the Sierra Club has been opposed to the carbon pipeline project, but was not supportive of the bill, nor were any of the other lobbyist declarations from Iowa environmental groups.
Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, was opposed to the bill and noted the Iowa Department of Natural Resources already acknowledges the existence of climate change and its impact on Iowa’s agriculture, habitat and public health.
“I don’t see this as the time for us to pull back on our actions,” Zabner said, noting that many climate-related projects are 30-50 years in the making.
Zabner also disagreed with a portion of the bill that would remove the commission’s requirement to support projects that reduce the state’s dependency on petroleum products.
Thomson moved the bill forward and said he would like to have “more wholesome” discussion in the full committee. The bill moves next to the House Commerce Committee.
