No to CO2 Pipeline
Dear Editors,
I’ve submitted a letter to the Iowa Utilities Board through email ([email protected]). I would like to share that letter with readers of The Sun.
My husband and I are Mount Vernon residents. My occupation is a pet sitter for Mount Vernon, Lisbon, Ely and Anamosa families. I own my business, which I started in 2015. In the past six years I have been in many homes in these communities, and I have gotten to know families well. I have learned of Navigator Ventures and Heartland Greenway through several sources: The Sun, friends, Facebook posts, and The Gazette.
I am appalled at the possibility of a CO2 pipeline running through Mount Vernon and Lisbon. After looking at the map published by Navigator, I am even more appalled at the possibility of a CO2 pipeline running through the entire state of Iowa, including Story County and Delaware County, two counties I have lived in. My question is how did Navigator get this far — and with whom did they consult here in Iowa as they prepared their map and their plan to lay pipeline in Iowa in the first place? CO2 is deadly and there are reputable and peer-reviewed tests to prove it. Story County and Linn County are two of our most populous counties. In what scenario is a CO2 pipeline safe in these communities? Any benefit of sequestration is far outweighed by risks.
Iowans deserve better. Our state’s agriculture and quality of life depends on Iowans’ stewardship. A Texas business venture to lay CO2 pipelines across our state — near schools, through farmland; mere feet, not miles, from small towns — this is not stewardship.
I strongly urge the Iowa Utilities Board to deny any and all permits to Navigator Ventures LLC and Heartland Greenway System for the purpose of laying CO2 pipelines.
Gretchen Reeh Robinson
Mount Vernon
Letter to Editor
December 23, 2021