SCR 6 (LSB 2568XS (3) 90)

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 6

BY  ALONS, GUTH, SALMON, WESTRICH, GREEN, EVANS, LOFGREN, J. TAYLOR, and ROWLEY

A Concurrent Resolution urging the Iowa Utilities Board to deny the use of eminent domain in relation to carbon capture pipeline projects.

   WHEREAS, the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States declares that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation, and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, Article 1, section 18, states “Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation first being made”; and
   WHEREAS, the use of eminent domain is constitutionally limited to public use, constrained to public convenience and necessity; and
   WHEREAS, pipelines transporting captured carbon dioxide do not meet this constitutional standard as a transport system for an industrial product used by private, for-profit companies, and will exclusively benefit private companies, not the general public; and
   WHEREAS, the installation of carbon capture pipelines will compromise the productivity of valuable agricultural land, disrupt and damage carefully installed patterned drainage tile systems, and threaten the proper soil conditions necessary for optimal crop growth; and
   WHEREAS, Iowa Code section 479B.9 restricts hazardous pipeline project permitting by the Iowa Utilities Board, stating: “A permit shall not be granted to a pipeline company unless the board determines that the proposed services will promote the public convenience and necessity”; and
   WHEREAS, to contend that a carbon capture pipeline project promotes public convenience and necessity because it is needed to fight climate change is speculative, as man-made climate change is highly debatable and not clearly settled science, and public policy should only be adopted based upon fully known and established science; and
   WHEREAS, the federal and state constitutions were written specifically to keep economic power from being a factor in deciding whether to use the power of eminent domain; and
   WHEREAS, the dissenting justices in the United States Supreme Court decision Kelo vs. City of New London warned, “The beneficiaries [of this decision] are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more”; and
   WHEREAS, Founding Father John Adams warned, “Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist”, and “The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence”; NOW THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, That the General Assembly urges the Iowa Utilities Board to uphold and protect the private property rights of landowners and farmers pursuant to the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and the laws of this state, and deny the use of the power of eminent domain to private companies constructing carbon capture pipelines.