Summit Announces Carbon Pipeline Plan

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Summit Carbon Solutions said it is ready to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to partnering with landowners along the proposed carbon dioxide pipeline route, announcing in a letter to community leaders this week that it plans to provide financial aid to communities and annual payments to landowners.

Summit's new CEO Joe Griffin told landowners in an August letter the company would be offering a new right-of-way proposal to build a 2,500-mile carbon pipeline connected to 57 ethanol plants across North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.

Griffin said in a new letter this week that the company is taking a new approach to improve relations with landowners.

"These commitments are more than words on paper -- they are a promise to operate safely, openly and in a way that brings meaningful benefits to the people and places that make this project possible," he said in a letter on Sept. 15, 2025.

"By working together with landowners, communities and emergency responders we can ensure that the Summit Carbon Solutions project delivers on its goals while strengthening the fabric of rural life for years to come. This work is about more than building infrastructure -- it's about building trust, protecting livelihoods and ensuring rural communities can thrive in the decades ahead."

For landowners, Griffin said it "commits to following statutory requirements" in giving notices of land surveys for the project on private property, or 72 hours in states without such laws. Summit said it will make a one-time payment of $500 for all surveys.

An Iowa landowner sued the company arguing state law allowing companies to conduct land surveys was unconstitutional. The landowner did not allow Summit access to his property. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in Summit's favor in 2024.

Griffin said his company would "negotiate in good faith" for right-of-way agreements. That includes offering landowners either fair-market compensation and giving the choice of either lump sum payments or annual payments.

AVOIDING EMINENT DOMAIN

Griffin said the company would "avoid the use of eminent domain except as a last resort, following a practical period of meaningful, good faith negotiation to the extent landowners will work with us."

The use of eminent domain on the proposed pipeline has been a political hot button throughout the company's efforts to build the pipeline, as landowners in some states have fought the company in court on the issue.

Griffin told landowners and communities to call the company directly if property owners encounter "individuals who do not represent this project with honesty and integrity."

LANDOWNER PAYMENTS

Summit said it will make an annual stakeholder payment to all landowners who have the pipeline on their properties.

"These payments will be calculated based on the length of pipeline on their property as shown in the as-built, at a rate of $0.25 per foot, per year," the letter said, which would be paid at the end of every year.

Griffin said the company is introducing an incentive program tied to voluntary right-of-way acquisition.

"When we reach 80% voluntary easement agreements in a state, the annual stakeholder payment for landowners in that state will increase to $0.3125 per foot," he said.

"When we reach 90% voluntary easement agreements in a state, the annual stakeholder payment for landowners in that state will increase to $0.4375 per foot."

At 100% in each state, he said, the annual payment would jump to $0.50 per foot.

"At this level, the estimated payment for the pipeline going across an entire 160-acre parcel would be $1,300 paid each year," Griffin said in the letter.

DOLLARS TO COMMUNITIES

Griffin said the company "will contribute" more than $8 million along the proposed route to "strengthen county emergency preparedness." That will include an initial donation to emergency managers of $50,000 per county, plus $1,000 for every mile of pipeline in each county.

"Funds will support the purchase of emergency equipment, enhance CO2 incident response training and implement a real-time notification system," he said.

In addition, Griffin said the company "will provide" an annual grant to each county along the pipeline route calculated at $0.125 per foot of Summit pipeline in each county.

Summit also introduced a voluntary right-of-way incentive program to counties like the landowner program.

"This is a big step forward for landowners, counties and taxpayers," said Tom Buis, CEO of American Carbon Alliance.

"Summit's community and landowner partnership program provides unprecedented guarantees, annual payments to landowners, new grants and property tax revenue for counties, and millions invested in emergency preparedness. These commitments ensure the benefits of this project flow directly to the people in rural Iowa who make it possible."

SAFETY PLANS

Griffin also outlined the company's approach to pipeline safety to include a 24-hour staffed control room to "deliver real-time monitoring and coordinate immediate response to abnormal operating conditions."

The company said it will go "above and beyond" federal safety requirements "where it benefits" local communities.

Also, this week Summit petitioned the Iowa Utilities Commission to amend the company's pipeline permit.

According to a story in the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the petition is seeking modifications to the pipeline route to "amend the conditions regarding North Dakota and South Dakota" and to add an ethanol plant to the pipeline.

The commission approved the pipeline permit previously saying Summit could not start construction until it received permission from North Dakota regulators on storage and the route.

Read more on DTN:

"Summit CEO Contacts Iowa Landowners," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

"Iowa Supreme Court Sides With Summit," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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