Montgomery County removed from Summit Carbon route

cancelled plans for a proposed pipeline route through Montgomery County as of last week.
The project, which was initially proposed in 2021, has faced a number of challenges, including lawsuits filed by Iowa counties, including Shelby County, to prevent the pipeline being constructed. In 2024, the Iowa Utilities Commission granted Summit a hazardous liquid pipeline permit including the power of eminent domain, but construction was conditioned on necessary approval being received from North Dakota and South Dakota. Also in 2024, Summit sought to add an additional pipeline route in the Southwest Iowa area. In 2025, Summit proposed changing its final destination from North Dakota after South Dakota enacted a law making it illegal to use eminent domain for carbon pipelines.
In a press release issued May 13, Summit Carbon Solutions announced it is refining portions of its proposed Iowa project footprint to focus on the strongest and most efficient path forward, helping accelerate progress toward construction and delivery of long-term economic opportunities for agriculture and rural communities.
The filing submitted to the Iowa Utilities Commission removes certain pipeline route segments, simplifying the overall project while maintaining the core infrastructure needed to move forward efficiently and responsibly. Summit will remove the proposed routes in Shelby, Pottawattamie, Montgomery, Adams, Page, Fremont, Mitchell, and Worth counties, while also reducing pipeline mileage in Crawford, Floyd, Sioux, and Dickinson counties. In total, the refinements will remove more than 400 landowners from the project footprint and reduce the overall scope of the project by approximately 200 miles.
The project will continue to work with a strong core group of ethanol facilities, including 27 in Iowa. At this time, the company will not pursue routes to Absolute Energy, POET Biorefining, Corning, POET Hanlontown, or Green Plains Renewable Energy in Shenandoah.
“We believe this is the right step for the project and the right step for the communities counting on new opportunities,” said Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Joe Griffin, who took over the position in August of last year. “Agriculture is facing real economic pressure right now. Farmers and ethanol producers need access to new markets and long-term growth opportunities, and there is urgency to getting infrastructure like this moving forward.”
Griffin said the company’s focus is on building the portions of the system that are economically positioned to move ahead now, while continuing to evaluate future expansion opportunities over time, including opportunities to connect additional ethanol facilities in future phases as market demand and project development continue to evolve. The project will travel west through Nebraska to advance a dedicated sequestration solution in Wyoming as the core of the system, while continuing to evaluate complementary carbon utilization opportunities, including enhanced oil recovery where appropriate.
In the wake of the announcement, representatives from the Sierra Club issued the following statements.
“Summit’s project has been on shaky ground for a long time.  Summit has been flailing around to try to keep their project viable and now it looks like it’s falling apart,” said Wally Taylor, Sierra Club Iowa Chapter Attorney.
“Summit’s project is still a pipeline to nowhere.  Their press statement made a lot of big claims about where they are going and what they are doing with the CO2 that are not officially filed with the IUC.  The IUC cannot make a decision on hearsay.  These significant changes show that Summit is struggling to make their project happen and trying to spin it as a win.  It’s time Summit withdraws their application and accepts that Iowans do not want their carbon pipeline,” said Jess Mazour, Sierra Club Iowa Chapter Conservation Associate.
Rural Red Oak resident Jan Norris, who has consistently spoken out about the construction of the pipeline also commented on the recent news that the route will no longer be proposed through the county.