The head of a trade association for biofuel producers says Iowa is no longer the best place to produce ethanol. Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw says Nebraska has that position now because a pipeline started capturing carbon from Nebraska ethanol plants last Friday.
That pipeline had been used to transport natural gas through Nebraska but has been converted to collect carbon and ship it to underground storage in Wyoming. Shaw says it’s just Econ 101 that investments will shift to Nebraska if Iowa officials slam the door here on the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.
The Iowa House has passed several bills since 2021 that would have affected the operation of Summit’s project, but only one has gotten Senate approval. It’s the bill Governor Reynolds vetoed in June. This past weekend group of GOP lawmakers said they’d introduce more pipeline-related legislation in 2026. Seth Harder is CEO of Husker AG, an ethanol plant in northeast Nebraska that may connect to the Trailblazer Pipeline. Harder says ethanol production will shift to Nebraska if it has the only carbon sequestration pipeline in the Midwest.
Harder is also the CEO of the Lincolnway Energy plant near Nevada. The Trailblazer Pipeline project in Nebraska is currently designed to collect carbon from up to 11 ethanol plants, one of which is near Council Bluffs. In May, Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy’s manager said the company had secured voluntary agreements from local property owners so the plant can connect to the Trailblazer pipeline.
