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.

Navigator CO2 Ventures Vice President of Government and Public Affairs Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, left, speaks with opponents of carbon pipelines following a meeting of the Minnehaha County Commission on June 6, 2023, in Sioux Falls (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

After SD rejection, Navigator asks Iowa regulators to pause pipeline permit request

By: - September 29, 2023

Navigator CO2 wants to suspend its pipeline permit process in Iowa until utility regulators in Illinois approve the project, according to a motion it filed in Iowa. The company wants to build a carbon dioxide pipeline system that would transport the captured greenhouse gas from ethanol plants and other facilities to Illinois, where it will […]

Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, left, of Navigator CO2, participates in a debate about carbon dioxide pipelines Aug. 22, 2023, at Dacotah Bank Event Center in Brookings while moderator Sara Frankenstein looks on. (Courtesy of David Bordewyk)

Carbon pipeline company has not ‘taken any state off the map’ after SD permit rejection

By: and - September 15, 2023

A recently failed permit application is not necessarily the end of a carbon capture pipeline company’s goal of building in South Dakota and four other states, according to a company spokesperson.  “We have not taken any state off the map,” Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, of Navigator CO2, told South Dakota Searchlight in an interview Friday. The South […]

A sign displays the names of the state's three elected public utilities commissioners outside of their Pierre office in January 2023. (South Dakota Searchlight/Joshua Haiar)

South Dakota’s Navigator pipeline decision might jeopardize Summit proposal

By: - September 7, 2023

Utility regulators in South Dakota declined this week to overrule county ordinances that restrict carbon dioxide pipelines when they denied Navigator CO2 a permit for its project. Summit Carbon Solutions has also asked that state’s Public Utilities Commission to give it a permit despite local restrictions, including in Minnehaha County, where the restrictions were upheld. […]

A map of Summit Carbon Solutions' proposed carbon-capture pipeline. (Courtesy of Summit Carbon Solutions)

Summit adjusts proposed pipeline route in North Dakota

By: - August 21, 2023

Summit Carbon Solutions would build its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline farther away from North Dakota’s capital city, according to a new route that is meant to assuage commissioners who denied the company a permit this month. The state is an important part of Summit’s project, which would transport captured carbon dioxide from more than 30 […]

A map of Summit Carbon Solutions' proposed carbon-capture pipeline. (Courtesy of Summit Carbon Solutions)

North Dakota denies Summit Carbon a pipeline permit

By: - August 4, 2023

Summit Carbon Solutions has failed to minimize the negative impacts of its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in North Dakota and will not be permitted to construct it, state regulators decided on Friday. The state is a key part of the company’s $5 billion project, which would span more than 2,000 miles in five states, including […]

A map of Summit Carbon Solutions' proposed carbon-capture pipeline. (Courtesy of Summit Carbon Solutions)

Iowa judge acquits South Dakota pipeline surveyor of trespassing charge

By: - July 6, 2023

An Iowa district court judge dismissed a trespassing charge against a carbon dioxide pipeline company’s land surveyor because there was no evidence he was told to avoid the property, according to court records. Stephen James Larsen, 29, of Arlington, South Dakota, was part of a survey group that went onto private property in Dickinson County, […]

Chris Ruhl, who oversees accident investigations for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said advanced plume modeling is being evaluated and tweaked. (Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Experts: Predicting CO2 pipeline rupture threats can be extremely costly

By: - June 1, 2023

DES MOINES, Iowa — A carbon dioxide plume modeling software did not anticipate the threat a pipeline break in 2020 posed to a small Mississippi town, largely because it did not take land topography into account. That break near Satartia, Mississippi, resulted in emergency responders scrambling to save people from a “green gas” and “rotten […]

Carbon dioxide pipeline opponents rallied in Des Moines on Wednesday as federal officials met to discuss their safety issues. (Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Feds: Carbon dioxide pipelines are necessary to reduce emissions

By: - May 31, 2023

Up to 60,000 miles of carbon dioxide pipeline must be installed in the United States to help eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a federal engineer. Part of that mileage might come from proposed pipelines that would cross Iowa and transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants for underground sequestration or other […]

A carbon dioxide pipeline break in 2020 in Mississippi sickened dozens. (Photo courtesy of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration)

Environmental groups seek Biden moratorium on carbon dioxide pipelines

By: - May 25, 2023

President Joe Biden should prevent the construction of new carbon dioxide pipelines until changes to federal rules are adopted to increase their safety, opponents of the projects said Thursday. The call for an executive order to stall the projects comes as federal regulators consider changes to pipeline requirements and are set to hold a two-day […]

Opponents of liquid carbon pipelines rally Nov. 9, 2022, in Cowles Commons in downtown Des Moines. (Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Landowner battles against pipelines vary by state

By: - May 13, 2023

Sprawling Midwestern pipelines that would carry captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and other facilities would change little when they cross state lines. The proposals would be constructed the same way in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas — with carbon steel pipe ranging from 4 to 24 inches in diameter with operating pressures […]

A roughly drawn map of the two liquid carbon pipelines' proposed paths. (Illustration by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Judge says Iowa’s pipeline land survey law is constitutional

By: - May 12, 2023

An Iowa district court judge decided this week that a state law is constitutional that allows land surveys for carbon dioxide pipelines regardless of landowners’ consent, according to court records. The ruling — in a Hardin County case — is at odds with another judge’s ruling last week in Clay County, which said the law does not […]

The Iowa Supreme Court chamber in the Iowa Judicial Building on Feb. 22, 2023. (Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Iowa court denies South Dakota man’s appeal in pipeline trespassing case

By: - April 21, 2023

The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a carbon dioxide pipeline surveyor who was charged last year with trespassing in northwest Iowa and wanted the case dismissed before trial, according to court records. Stephen James Larsen, 28, of Arlington, South Dakota, was cited in August for going onto a Dickinson County property to […]