By Beacon Staff
A new pipeline will likely run through Southeast Iowa, and a spur of the pipeline could be coming to Des Moines County.
Des
Moines County Engineer Brian Carter told the board of supervisors
Tuesday during the board's regular meeting that Navigator
Heartland Greenway LLC has proposed a carbon capture pipeline to
transport liquid carbon dioxide.
In Iowa, the
pipeline would run from northwest Iowa to southeast Iowa. The pipeline
is proposed to span approximately 1,300 miles across five states,
including Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Navigator’s
pipeline system would capture carbon dioxide at local facilities,
convert it to liquid form, and transfer the liquefied carbon dioxide to a
permanent underground sequestration site in Illinois.
“If
this does move forward, it sounds like any pipeline in our county would
be coming up from the Skunk River area, kind of toward the Geode
quarry area, and kind of diagonal up through there,” Carter said during
the meeting. “Obviously, the ammunition plant runs through up there, and
I’m guessing they’re not friendly to that. So it’s going to be west of
the ammunition plant.”
Carter studied the map
provided for the Heartland Greenway System, and noted that it is too
vague at this point to determine the exact location of the pipeline
spur. He noted there is a spur that would connect to the Big River
Resources ethanol plant. The main pipeline will run through Lee County, he said.
Navigator
has estimated the project will cost at least $2 billion and create
about 8,000 construction jobs and about 80 permanent positions along the
pipeline route.
Navigator's proposed project
is classified as a hazardous liquid pipeline and is required under Iowa
law to hold informational meetings at least 30 days prior to
petitioning the Iowa Utilities Board for a new pipeline permit. Navigator
has set up a meeting for all the counties impacted. The Des Moines County
meeting will be at noon Dec. 8. at LOFT Events, 416 Jefferson St. in
Burlington.
Vaccination Rate Continues To Climb
Public
health administrator Christa Poggemiller told the Des Moines County
supervisors that the vaccination rate for COVID-19 “is really coming
along.”
Poggemiller said county COVID-19
positivity is currently 14 percent with 131 cases in the past week, and
the county vaccination rate for those over 18 is 57 percent.