Barb Kalbach.

As 2024 wraps up, I’m reflecting on the past 12 months. What memories did our family make, how did things go on the farm, and how are things going in my community and across the state?

One of my biggest memories is about Summit Carbon Solutions and its controversial CO2 pipeline. Two days before Thanksgiving, fellow Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement member Tom Mohan and I were served “cease-and-desist” letters by Summit for writing opinion pieces opposing its project.

When I first heard about the pipeline, as a nurse in rural Iowa I was worried about public health and safety threats. CO2 is a potentially deadly asphyxiant, and a rupture would be dangerous for nearby people, livestock, and wildlife. I read about the February 2020 rupture in Satartia, Mississippi that sent 45 people to the hospital and created serious stress on the region’s health care system.

The next thing that bothered me was Summit wanting to use eminent domain authority – granted by the Iowa Utilities Commission – to force its pipeline through landowners’ property. Eminent domain is intended for public benefit. Summit is a privately-owned, for-profit corporation. This is not a situation where Summit’s alleged “public good” outweighs the property rights of Iowa landowners.

But what worries me most now is the pipeline’s potential drain on our aquifers. Iowa’s ethanol plants already use more than 25 billion gallons of water annually, according to a Sierra Club study analyzing Iowa DNR data. It’s estimated the pipeline would require another 3.3 billion gallons of water, much of it by drilling into our aquifers. We can’t let Summit use our public resources just to serve its bottom line.

These cease-and-desist letters are part of a bigger story. They’re a challenge to our democracy. Nationally, politicians and the wealthy elite are increasingly trying to bully journalists, advocates and everyday people with legal tactics like this. That seems to be the next “go-to strategy” of the rich and powerful who want to limit our free speech.

Defending yourself in court when you’ve done nothing wrong can be an expensive proposition, but we’re going to fight back tooth-and-nail. Summit might want to scare people with its high-paid attorneys, but the court of public opinion has already rendered a verdict. The pipeline is an unnecessary boondoggle designed to fill the pockets of corporate agribusiness executives and their investors.

This is a story about corporate ag’s control over Iowa politicians. Big-time political donors like Summit’s Bruce Rastetter use their connections to get what they want. It’s about a Governor and Statehouse that works for them – not us.

It’s also about regular people using and defending our free speech by speaking up and fighting back against corporate power all over the state – people like Tom Mohan and countless others who attend meetings, hearings and rallies to show our disgust and outrage. We won’t be intimidated by legal maneuvers. We won’t let agribusiness fat cats silence us. We will keep speaking out for Iowa’s water and land, and fighting for the people and places we love.

Barb Kalbach lives in Adair County, Iowa. She is a 4th-generation family farmer, a registered nurse, and board president of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Barb can be reached at barbnealkalbach@gmail.com.