Author

Jared Strong

Jared Strong

Jared Strong is the senior reporter for the Iowa Capital Dispatch. He has written about Iowans and the important issues that affect them for more than 15 years, previously for the Carroll Times Herald and the Des Moines Register. His investigative work exposing police misconduct has notched several state and national awards. He is a longtime trustee of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, which fights for open records and open government. He is a lifelong Iowan and has lived mostly in rural western parts of the state.

A recent map of Dickinson County, Iowa, near Spirit Lake shows in red the tracts of land where Summit Carbon Solutions might seek eminent domain to obtain easements. (Iowa Utilities Board filing)

Judge: Iowa pipeline trespassing case against SD man should go to trial
By: - January 31, 2023

A district court judge has rejected a request to dismiss the trespassing charge against a land surveyor who attempted to evaluate a northwest Iowa property in August for Summit Carbon Solutions, according to court records. A tenant of the property had previously turned away another Summit survey crew in April 2022 and told them not […]

Some farmers have argued that their land shouldn't be subject to eminent domain for liquid carbon dioxide pipelines. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Judge set to decide whether pipeline trespassing case will proceed
By: - January 20, 2023

There is no evidence a carbon dioxide pipeline surveyor accused of trespassing knew that he was not welcome to do the work on a Dickinson County, Iowa, farm, and the criminal charge against him should be dismissed, his attorney said this week. A district court judge is poised to decide whether the trespassing charge against Stephen James […]

District Associate Judge Shawna Ditsworth is considering a request to dismiss a trespassing charge against a carbon pipeline surveyor. (Photo by Seth Boyes/Dickinson County News)

Pipeline trespassing case against SD man goes to court in Iowa
By: - December 16, 2022

A company that wants to build a sprawling carbon dioxide pipeline in northwest Iowa should have obtained a court order before attempting to survey private land from which it had been previously barred, a Dickinson County prosecutor argued Thursday. At issue is a trespassing charge against Stephen James Larsen, 28, of Arlington, South Dakota, who […]

Thanksgiving holiday renews focus on bird flu, rising costs
By: - November 23, 2022

Fresh turkeys are more expensive and smaller than usual leading into the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s due, in part, to the deadly and highly transmissible avian influenza that has wracked turkey producers this year. The virus, which is transmitted by wild, migrating birds, has led to the deaths of […]

The Mississippi River, a source of drinking water for thousands of eastern Iowans, has PFAS, according to Iowa DNR tests.

Iowa town in talks with 3M to fix ‘forever chemical’ contamination
By: - November 17, 2022

CAMANCHE, IOWA — A major manufacturer of toxic chemicals that persist indefinitely in the environment will pay for a new drinking water source or a water treatment system for Camanche in eastern Iowa. The town of about 4,600 residents lies across the Mississippi River from a 3M Company facility near Cordova, Illinois. The facility has […]

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