DES MOINES - The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) issued an order today that denies a request for an environmental impact study (EIS) regarding the proposed carbon capture pipeline by Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC (Navigator), which is pending before the IUB in Docket No. HLP-2021-0003. The request for the EIS was filed by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska (Winnebago Tribe) on June 2, 2022.
Today’s order states the IUB will consider specific environmental issues raised by the IUB and the parties as part of the public evidentiary hearing and in consideration of whether to grant Navigator a hazardous liquid pipeline permit.
The IUB considers the proposed project under Iowa Code chapter 479B and the IUB’s rules at 199 Iowa Administrative Code chapter 13, and the IUB will consider whether Navigator has addressed the environmental concerns sufficiently. The IUB stated in the order that it does not consider a separate EIS, as required by federal regulations, to be necessary to fulfill its statutory requirements in considering whether to grant the permit requested.
Today's order is similar to the IUB’s decision in an October 6, 2022 order in Docket No. HLP-2021-0001, in which the IUB also denied a request for an environmental impact study related to the Summit Carbon Solutions proposed carbon capture pipeline. That order also stemmed from the Winnebago Tribe’s June 2, 2022 request.
The Navigator order, like the order in the Summit Carbon docket, also referenced a similar request made with regard to the Dakota Access pipeline in Docket No. HLP-2014-0001. In the IUB’s Final Decision and Order issued March 10, 2016, in that docket, the IUB found “there is no explicit legal requirement, in statute or in rule, for an independent environmental impact report as a part of this proceeding.”
Documents regarding the proposed Navigator hazardous liquid pipeline are available for review in the IUB’s electronic filing system under Docket No. HLP-2021-0003.
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