An analysis released by the Sierra Club and landowners who object to the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline suggests the project will require drawing well over three BILLION gallons of water from Iowa’s aquifers each year. Jess Mazour is the conservation coordinator for the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club.
Mazour says ethanol plants already use a significant amount of water and the pipeline would be an even bigger drain on Iowa’s water supply.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has already granted Summit a permit to withdraw up to 55 million gallons of water each year from a new well near an ethanol plant in Chickasaw County. Wally Taylor, the attorney for the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, says the agency has been handing out water use permits like candy, without considering the impact on groundwater resources.
According to federal reports, it takes between 10 and 17 liters of water to produce ethanol. More water would be required at each ethanol plant site to cool carbon so it can be compressed, liquified and pushed through a pipeline. More than half of Iowa’s corn crop is used to produce ethanol. Summit and corn growers who support the project say the pipeline is crucial to the survival of the ethanol industry, as more consumers demand fuel that has a low or no carbon footprint. Summit’s pipeline would sequester carbon from 57 Midwest ethanol plants, including 30 in Iowa.
