Wolf Carbon Solutions withdrawals bid for eastern Iowa CO2 pipeline

A proposed 95-mile carbon capture pipeline project has grinded to a stop. Wolf Carbon Solutions—at least for now—has ended its bid for regulatory approval.

Wolf Carbon Solutions told Iowa regulators that it is pulling its application for a pipeline project in eastern Iowa. The project would transport as much as 12 million tons of carbon dioxide annually to a storage facility in Decatur, Illinois. 

In a Monday morning filing to the Iowa Utilities Commission, it cited uncertainty in its own timeline for securing land. 

“While Wolf has continued to build relationships with landowners and stakeholders interested in the Project, a number of factors have continued to delay Wolf’s ability to proceed with the Project,” Wolf’s attorney Dennis Puckett of Sullivan & Ward wrote. 

Wolf’s is the latest carbon dioxide pipeline project put on ice. Last October, Nebraska-based Navigator CO2 Ventures canceled its Heartland Greenway pipeline. And more recently, Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions had its pipeline permit application denied by regulators in North Dakota and South Dakota. 

Wolf’s own application was denied by regulators in Illinois because the company did not have a final agreement in place with Archer-Daniels-Midland or ADM, the company operates the ethanol plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton and manages the underground sequestration site in Illinois. 

Anti-pipeline advocate and former state Senate candidate Jessica Wiskus greeted the news with celebration. Wolf said early on that it would not make use of eminent domain for the project. Wiskus was part of the organizing effort to convince landowners in Wolf’s proposed corridor to not sign on to the project.

“We stood together refusing to sign the easements and so they really didn’t have a pathway to make it to the Mississippi River,” Wiskus told Iowa Starting Line. “I’m saying this is a victory.” 

In order to lower its carbon footprint, the ethanol industry has been pursuing carbon capture pipeline projects so it can compete with energy with lower carbon emissions. 

While the project is effectively in limbo, both ADM and Wolf are still in conversations about the future of the pipeline. ADM has said it is still committed to using the Decatur facility for carbon capture.