AMES, Iowa (August 5, 2022) – With over 700 Iowa landowners having signed more than 1,200 voluntary easements in the state, Summit Carbon Solutions has made significant progress in advancing its transformative carbon capture and storage project. Based on this success, Summit Carbon Solutions continues to proceed through the permitting process steps with the Iowa Utilities Board and with authorities in other states. As part of this multi-billion-dollar infrastructure investment, the company continues to negotiate voluntary easements with all unsigned landowners.

Summit Carbon Solutions has partnered with 32 ethanol plants in the Midwest, including 12 in Iowa, to develop the largest carbon capture and storage project in the world. This project will help these partner facilities significantly reduce their carbon intensity scores and allow them to sell their product at a premium in the growing number of states and countries that have adopted low carbon fuel standards.

“Summit Carbon Solutions was formed to drive growth in the ethanol and agricultural industries that are so critical to the economy in Iowa and across the Midwest,” said Jake Ketzner, Summit Carbon Solutions Vice President of Government and Public Affairs.  “Over the past several months, we have been incredibly encouraged by the response from landowners.  We have already signed more than 1,200 voluntary easements with Iowans and we will continue to work to secure similar agreements with the remainder.”

The Summit Carbon Solutions project represents a nearly $1 billion investment in the state of Iowa, which will flow to local businesses, restaurants, hotels, and more to spur economic growth. Once operational, the project will generate an average of $1.2 million in new property tax revenues every year for each of the counties where the system will operate, helping local communities make additional investments in schools, road construction, health care, public safety, and more.

As Summit Carbon Solutions continues to follow the procedural permitting requirements, it is important to highlight several facts associated with the Summit Carbon Solutions project.

  • Fact: Ethanol is critical to the state of Iowa. The industry contributes $4.5 billion to Iowa’s gross domestic product every year, supports 44,000 jobs, and purchases 57% of all the corn grown in Iowa, helping to maintain strong commodity prices and strong land values.  

  • Fact: Agriculture remains at the heart of Iowa’s economy. According to USDA, corn production alone provides a total value of nearly $14 billion.

  • Fact: Summit Carbon Solutions will enable its ethanol plant partners to sell their product at a premium in low carbon fuel standard markets.

  • Fact: Low carbon fuel markets are expanding. California, the largest ethanol consuming state, and Canada, the largest U.S. ethanol export partner, have both adopted low carbon fuel standards that pay more for lower carbon fuels.

  • Fact: By purchasing 57% of the corn grown in Iowa, the ethanol industry helps maintain strong commodity prices and strong land values.

  • Fact: Opponents of carbon capture and storage projects have gone on the record advocating for the elimination of the ethanol industry.

    • Sierra Club of Iowa:

“Sierra Club believes that the use of ethanol serves to extend our reliance on fossil fuels, thus contributing to climate change.” (Source: See here) 

“(Carbon capture and storage) will extend the life of the polluting ethanol industry and industrial agriculture practices that have contributed to our climate crisis, water pollution and more” (Source: See here)

    • Food and Water Watch:

“Summit also asserts that its project will enhance the long-term viability of the ethanol industry, despite the ethanol industry’s tremendous harms to biodiversity due to intensive monocultural (corn only) production” (Source: See here)

  • Fact: Summit Carbon Solutions remains committed to negotiating voluntary easements with landowners. Currently, over 1,400 landowners across the Midwest have signed voluntary easements with Summit Carbon Solutions. These agreements account for more than 2,200 total tracts of land and more are being signed every day.

  • Fact: Summit Carbon Solutions will continue to negotiate voluntary easements with the landowners included in the required Exhibit H documents being submitted to the Iowa Utilities Board starting today.

To learn more about Summit Carbon Solutions, please visit www.SummitCarbonSolutions.com.

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Summit Carbon Solutions is driving the future of agriculture by expanding economic opportunities for ethanol producers, strengthening the marketplace for Midwest-based farmers, and creating jobs. In developing the largest carbon capture and storage project in the world, the company seeks to lower greenhouse gas emissions by connecting industrial facilities via strategic infrastructure to store carbon dioxide safely and permanently in the Midwestern United States. For more information, visit: www.SummitCarbonSolutions.com.