Conflict of interest? Critics question $4.5B Iowa pipeline proposal

Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is at the center of critics' concerns about a proposed $4.5 billion pipeline project to capture carbon emissions across the state.

• Opponents of the pipeline are raising questions at recent public meetings about Branstad's advisory role in the project, and whether his appointees to the board tasked with approving it have a conflict of interest, the Des Moines Register reports.

Why it matters: The Midwest Carbon Express project would cross 30 Iowa counties and be classified as a hazardous liquid pipeline.

• Branstad appointed two of the three members on the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), which can approve eminent domain powers to force unwilling landowners to sell easements.

The big picture: Summit Carbon Solutions, the Ames company behind the project, isn't alone in proposing to build hundreds of miles of pipeline to capture carbon at ethanol refineries across the Midwest. Texas-based Navigator CO2 Ventures is trying to advance a similar proposal.

• Under Summit's plans, CO2 captured at the plants would be buried underground in North Dakota.
• Recent increases in federal tax incentives prompted a rush for pipeline plans intended to help reduce harmful environmental emissions, the AP reports.

Between the lines: Summit Carbon Solutions hired Branstad in March as a senior policy advisor on the project.

• Summit Carbon's parent company is owned by Bruce Rastetter, who Branstad appointed to the Iowa Board of Regents in 2011. Rastetter has remained a longtime political ally of the former governor's.

What they're saying: Ames farmer Lee Tesdell raised questions about a possible conflict of interest at a public meeting last week, saying Branstad should resign or the two IUB members should recuse themselves.

• The board said in an emailed statement to the Register that it'll decide whether there's a possible conflict of interest "at the appropriate time."

What's next: The IUB will continue to notify landowners of Summit Carbon's proposal at public meetings scheduled through Oct. 15.

• Summit can apply for a new pipeline permit at least 30 days after the meetings have concluded.