Commissioners learn about carbon capture pipelines alternatives, concerns about property rights

Antelope County Commissioners learned heard from two speakers, Dec. 5, about concerns with a potential carbon-capture pipeline projected to run through the northern tier of the county.

Doyle Turner, of Moville, Iowa, and Trent Loos, a central Nebraska rancher also presented similar information at an informational forum, Dec. 4, in Neligh.

Turner said years ago, he had invested in a company that sold carbon dioxide for "any kind of purpose you can imagine."

"I knew CO2 had a lot of value. What I didn't know is that CO2 coming off these ethanol plants is 98% pure. Industry standard is 10 to12%. This is the holy grail," he said.

According to Turner, carbon-capture pipeline companies have duped ethanol plant owners.

"These pipeline companies have essentially written the laws that gave all these subsidies. They had a heads up before anyone and were playing 3-D chess while everyone else was playing checkers," Turner said.

The 45Z tax credit will provide up to $1 per gallon for domestic production of clean transportation fuels, including ethanol. The credit, approved in 2022, is part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

"If you talk to anyone in the ethanol industry, nobody wants to talk about 45Z credits anymore because they know these pipelines won't be done in time for the plants to get the subsidies, so essentially, these ethanol plants have given away the CO2 to pipeline companies for free," Turner said.

He suggests an alternative to the pipeline is for ethanol plants to construct a methanol plant next door and utilize the methanol for additional products.

"It allows us to go from taking one bushel of corn creating three gallons of ethanol, 16 pounds of dried distiller's grain, one gallon of corn syrup, when we add methanol to the process, it makes another two gallons of methanol out of the same bushel of corn. We're looking at a 66% increase in production and that's just by volume," Turner said.

He questioned why governors of midwestern states aren't investigating these options, noting it comes down to one issue: money.

"These companies, like Blackrock, want our CO2. We want it, too," he said.

Turner said he worked with Carbon Sink, LLC, to write a letter of intent to Woodbury County, Iowa, officials, to construct a methanol plant to process all CO2 coming out of Nebraska.

"What I told my county was if Nebraska isn't smart enough to add value to their CO2, we'll do it," Turner said. "The real thing is we need to add value to our products."

The easiest way is to utilize carbon dioxide.

Turner also addressed property rights, noting that landowners only own the surface of the land, not what's above or below.

"CO2 is heavier than ambient air. If you have a release from a pipeline, it doesn't go up, like natural gas. This settles down on the ground, right where our property rights are," he said.

When a conditional use permit is being structured, Turner said he believes counties have the right to include property rights are being affected by any gas heavier than ambient air, above and beyond the path of that pipeline, including the plume study of the air where gas could come down to.

"You have people risking their lives, risking their crops, risking their livestock and they aren't being compensated for their risk," he said.

He urged commissioners to require a CUP that would include easements on all property within a certain kill zone of the pipeline.

Commissioner Keith Heithoff, of Elgin, compared CO2 in fizzy drinks to the amount released from an ethanol plant smokestack.

"If it's released into the atmosphere now, how is that not dangerous?" Heithoff asked.

Turner said it isn't dangerous in small qualities.

"We're taking small quantities, putting them together and making them dangerous," Turner said. "CO2 isn't a pollutant, it's plant food. That's what I like about the methanol option. We don't want to kill the ethanol industry."

Loos, a Sherman County, Nebraska, rancher, said he's a sixth-generation rancher, who views domestic food and fuel production as a means of national security.

He referenced executive order 14008, a 57-Page document highlighting that by 2030, 30% of the United States land and water will be returned to its natural state.

"What's that mean? No farming, no irrigation," he said.

How does this relate to a carbon-capture pipeline?

"Why are you entertaining the idea, if you are, of driving a four-inch pipe through the middle of Antelope County, if it is a risk?"

According to Loos, the idea of sequestering carbon isn't knew. It's part of the life cycle.

Loos said. "We're walking into a path where we're asked to select and assist in reducing emissions, which all four emissions are greenhouse gases, are plant food."

He suggested commissioners "step up" to make decisions for all people of Antelope and neighboring counties.

Loos said he's a champion for property rights.

"But there's a big difference when your property rights include a massive subsidy in order for you to get something that ultimately is going to deter the health of the planet and human life. You have the ability to look at the big picture of what's happening here," Loos said.

Commissioners will need to set a public hearing date to approve or deny a conditional use permit for Summit Carbon Solutions, based on a recommendation from the county's planning and zoning board.

As of the Dec. 12 commissioners' meeting, a date had not been set. Commissioner Charlie Henery said he thinks the hearing should be tabled until after a replacement for Commissioner Keith Heithoff, of Elgin, has been selected.

Heithoff sent a letter of resignation, effective Feb. 14, to the commissioners at the Dec. 5 meeting. Heithoff will be moving out of state.

"That will give the new commissioner time to get up to date with the issue and what's going on," Henery said during the Dec. 12 meeting.