Couser v. Story County

Affirming two district court decisions in this case and in a case against Shelby County, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the federal Pipeline Safety Act (PSA) and Iowa state law preempted the two Iowa counties’ ordinances that would regulate portions of a planned pipeline for transporting carbon dioxide across five states. The Eighth Circuit ruled that the ordinances’ setback and emergency response provisions were safety standards preempted by the PSA. The Eighth Circuit also found that an abandonment provision within one county’s ordinance fell within the scope of the PSA, “which extends to abandoned and discontinued pipelines.” The Eighth Circuit also held that Iowa’s law on hazardous liquid pipelines preempted county permitting and trenchless construction requirements because the counties’ higher standards made the requirements inconsistent with the state law, which delegated permitting power to the Iowa Utilities Commission that was “singular, sweeping, and cedes nothing to the counties.”