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Letters to Editor

Reynolds, Feenstra sold their oath for a big payoff. That’s not right.

To the editor: A few years ago, landowners in northern Iowa were approached by a company with plans for installing a windmill farm in the area. They held a low-key matter-of-fact meeting with no pressure to sign contracts or threat of eminent domain. Understand that windmills are inefficient, subsidized with taxpayers' money, and ugly. The only plus is it makes the green activists feel good. After consulting a lawyer about the contract, I ordered 10 windmills. Unfortunately, I only got one. This brings me to the proposed carbon pipeline and eminent domain. Full disclosure, I am a ...

Hamilton County Childcare Coalition subsidy is a successful solution

Hamilton County, Iowa, with the establishment of the Hamilton County Childcare Coalition has led the charge on Iowa’s local solution to the childcare funding crisis. Our wage enhancement program created in early 2021 through public and private partnership has helped Hamilton County and the State of Iowa catapult to the national spotlight. Hamilton County’s child care wage enhancement program was created to provide childcare workers with a livable and competitive wage along with assisting non-profit childcare centers to retain current workers and recruit new ones. When we started ...

We strongly oppose the use of eminent domain for the CO2 pipeline

A group of people who once scoffed at the idea that carbon gas was destroying our planet are now making a 180-degree turn to initiate the idea of collecting and transporting CO2. There is a presumption by many of us that they found a way to make billions of dollars in the process. Is the proposed project a proven way to capture the useless gas? Many, familiar with the industry, say it is not. They want to transport the useless gas hundreds of miles to North Dakota, via a underground pipeline, where it is to be stored underground for eternity. That's right: for eternity. How ...

Attend Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline meetings on August 29

To the editor: August 29th, 12 p.m. at Jewell Golf Club in Jewell and 6 p.m. at Albrights Bluff in Iowa Falls is your chance to speak up and out against the corporation and the state taking away land for a farce of an environmental program. Summit must hold a public informational meeting in every county that the new planned pipelines will be in. Join Iowa CCI (Citizens for Community Improvement) members and concerned residents to ask questions and share your concerns. Summit Carbon Solutions already has permission to use eminent domain, pending approval from other states, to ...

Summit shouldn’t be allowed to use eminent domain

To the editor: Imagine sitting down after a hard day’s work with your family and enjoying a wonderful meal. As your stomach rumbles in hunger and the aroma of delicious home cooking permeates your nostrils, suddenly a stranger knocks on your door and demands a slice of your land — a piece of your heritage, passed down from your grandparents. They tell you it’s for “public benefit,” “the greater good,” “to help farmers,” and for a “good cause.” But when you dig deeper, you find that the reason the stranger wants your land is simply for the profit of a few private ...

Landowners should not be intimidated by Summit’s letter

To the editor: (In June), Summit Carbon Solutions received a conditional permit from the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) to construct a 680-mile CO2 pipeline across Iowa. The proposed pipeline, named the Midwest Carbon Express (MCE) will carry pressurized CO2 from ethanol plants across five Midwestern states to North Dakota where it will be permanently sequestered underground. The investment company will then earn billions of dollars annually in 45Q carbon tax credits. Summit recently filed additional applications with the IUC to bring 16 ethanol plants from the now-defunct ...