I filed this objection to the Iowa Utilities Board concerning the Wolf pipeline based on my environmental and economic calculations and my ethical considerations.
The Wolf hazardous pipeline from Cedar Rapids to Decatur, Ill., (280-mile length) is initially designed to transport 6 million metric tons of CO2 annually operating at 100% effective capture capacity. At 100% effective capture capacity, the captured carbon is 0.5581% of the US auto tailpipe CO2 emissions and is expected to make (6 million x $85 per Metric ton) $510,000,000 in annual marketable U.S. tax credits for that effort.
To put the pipeline’s environmental impact into perspective.
(6 Million / 1.075 Billion (total US CO2 auto tailpipe CO2 emissions 2020) = 0.005581) = .5581% that is about 1/2 of 1 %. You could safely say the proposed Wolf pipeline is designed to capture approximately 1/2 of 1 % of the total US auto tailpipe CO2 emissions.
To put the pipeline’s environmental impact into a more finite perspective.
The Iowa section of the pipeline (90 miles of length) that goes through my neighborhood is approximately 1/3 that amount = 0.169%.
You could safely and generously say approximately less than 2 tenths of 1 % of the US auto tailpipe CO2 emissions will be transported annually by the Iowa section of the Wolf pipeline.
Keep in mind those figures are for 100% efficiency. With the new Inflation Reduction Act only 75% efficiency in design is required. So, Wolf and ADM could harvest tax credit dollars for only 3/4 of that tiny fraction of captured CO2. That would be 0.126%,
You could safely say that just 1 tenth of 1% of the US auto tailpipe CO2 emissions will be transported over the 90 miles of the Iowa section of the proposed Wolf pipeline annually.
In the public December IUB/ Wolf informational meetings Wolf executive Nick Noppinger stated that Wolf would have no interest in building the pipeline without the United States government’s 45 Q tax credits. The Wolf pipeline will be funded at the expense of the United States taxpayers and paid out to a Canadian Pension Plan Investment Organization.
The outrageous and misappropriated $510,000,000 annual payout amount, the permanent disruption to the lives and safety of rural Iowans and the maleficent destruction of Iowa land for an insignificant fraction of CO2 capture are not morally justifiable.
As a landowner in the proposed Wolf pipeline corridor I object to the HLP-2022-0002 Wolf Pipeline project and I sincerely hope that the IUB considers all landowner requests to reject Wolf’s application for a permit.