Hirth v. Iowa Utilities Commission

A lawsuit filed in federal district court in Iowa challenged the Iowa Utilities Commission’s approval of approximately 688 miles of supercritical carbon dioxide pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions LLC. The plaintiffs—which included property owners whose properties would be encumbered by the pipeline, an economic development organization, an association of members of the Iowa General Assembly, a property rights organization, and members of the public—asserted that the Commission did not comply with the Iowa Administrative Procedure Act and violated their federal and State due process rights, and that the pipeline did not justify use of eminent domain under Iowa law or the U.S. Constitution.