Iowa Candidate Questionnaire: View Results
We need to elect leaders who support property rights and are informed about the risks of deadly carbon pipelines!
We asked for your help to contact candidates who have declared for offices across Iowa, ask them about CO2 pipelines and eminent domain, and then report-back the results of your outreach so we know who is claiming to be on the side of landowners and against eminent domain abuse. Thanks to everyone who has helped us so far with candidate outreach! Below are the results of Iowa Easement Team’s Candidate Questionnaire:
GOVERNOR
Rob Sand (D)
Zach Lahn (R)
Rob Sand (D)
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
”I do not support eminent domain being used for carbon capture pipelines. I believe eminent domain is not for private gain - this is an issue for private parties to negotiate and reach individual agreements.”
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
“Twenty years ago, I called Suzette Kelo after her home was taken via eminent domain to build a Shopping mall, and she joined an event I organized to educate people on the risks. I’ve been outspoken about this issue in Iowa and my stance in interviews and town halls recently. I’ve also called to end the sale of Iowa farmland to foreign owned and out of state LLCs that hide the true ownership. I believe leadership requires that you communicate your positions clearly, and no matter where you fall on this debate it’s clear that Governor Reynolds hid from this issue for years refusing to take a clear position.”
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”I will push the legislature to send me a bill banning the use of eminent domain for the carbon capture pipeline, and I will sign it. I would also appoint IUC members that share my views.”
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
“I have serious concerns about the long-term market for carbon capture as it’s wholly reliant on federal tax credits that could disappear overnight. If that happens, ethanol will be crushed if all our eggs are in the sequestration basket. Further, I do not believe that this pipeline is a common carrier, and doubt that in the long run, using CO2 to frack oil will still be allowed to be receive credit for carbon reduction.”
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?
"I’ve been clear in my opposition to eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines. I believe that is the kind of clarity and leadership landowners deserve. I go everywhere and talk to everyone. Meanwhile, my opponent is an out of state investor in Iowa land, and isn’t invested in the future of our state because he doesn’t live here. He has praised Kim Reynolds’ leadership and legacy - which is an abdication of duty on this issue!”
Zach Lahn (R)
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
“No. I oppose using eminent domain for private gain. Property rights are fundamental.”
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
“I have consistently spoken out against using eminent domain for private private gain and stood with Iowa landowners fighting to protect their property. I have also fought eminent domain on my own property and won. “
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
“I will sign legislation protecting landowners from eminent domain for private gain.”
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
“Property rights, landowner protections, safety, and ensuring taxpayers aren’t forced to surrender their land against their will.”
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?
“My position is clear and consistent: no eminent domain for private gain. Iowa landowners should never be forced to surrender their property for someone else’s private project. I was on the record on this long before my opponent.”
U.S. Senate
Ashley Hinson (R)
Josh Turek (D)
Thomas Laehn (L)
Thomas Laehn (L)
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
”No. It violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. We create government to secure our rights; when private hazardous liquid pipeline companies are vested with the power of eminent domain, government facilitates the violation of our rights, contrary to the very purpose for which it was created.”
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”I drafted the initial draft of the bill that would have prohibited the use of eminent domain for the construction of hazardous liquid pipelines on agricultural land, which bill Governor Reynolds ultimately vetoed. I have also represented and advised the Greene County Board of Supervisors, which filed an objection to the construction of the Summit Carbon pipeline with the Iowa Utilities Commission.”
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”I will propose legislation to eliminate sections 45Q and 45Z of the Internal Revenue Code. I will also propose legislation, pursuant to section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibiting the use of eminent domain unless it is for a bona fide public use.”
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
”(1) They violate our property rights; (2) They are unconstitutional; (3) They serve no purpose other than to make the donors to our state and federal legislators wealthier; (4) They put peoples lives at risk; (5) They will drain our state's aquifers; and (6) They are a waste of taxpayer dollars when our federal deficit is growing by trillions of dollars.”
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?
”I have actually drafted legislation that would have stopped carbon pipeline companies from using eminent domain to take property from unwilling landowners.”
U.S. House (CD-1)
Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)
Christina Bohannan (D)
Michael Bridgford (I)
Michael Bridgford (NP)
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
“No. Eminent domain should not be used for for-profit projects.”
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
“I am a landowner myself and grew up on a 500 acre family farm that my family settled in the 1830s. My family still owns the land. In no way should a for profit project be able to take that from us.”
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
“Support legislation that protects private property rights in all cases, as outlined in the Constitution.”
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
“Eminent domain of land from owners that don't want to sell.”
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?
“I have $0 donations from corporations or special interests that I would have to answer to, unlike the two candidates I'm running against.”
U.S. House
(CD-2)
Lindsay James (D)
Joe Mitchell (R)
Rick Stewart (L)
Dave Bushaw (I)
Rick Stewart (L)
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
”No, it is unconstitutional.”
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”Ran for Governor 2022”
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”Introduce/support laws clarifying eminent domain may not be used for private gain”
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
”Illegal use of eminent domain, but also they are an environmental boondoggle which exist only because of unconstitutional tax credits”
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?
”I support the Constitution, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats do, they both support communist ideas such as government ownership of the means of production. Frankly it is incredible we have two political parties pretending to be different when in fact neither supports the Constitution and both love war, taxes, spending, corrupting, cheating and communism. Both the Republican and the Democratic Parties must be crushed if America is to survive.”
Dave Bushaw (I)
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
”No. I do not support the use of imminent domain for private profit, and I do not support federal subsidization of carbon pipeline programs for profit. I do believe we need to use tools for carbon sequestration, but not to the detriment of property owners' rights and environmental stability.”
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”The majority of my work the past 5 years has been watchdogging appropriations and spending of Covid recovery funding at the state and local level, as well as infrastructure investments from BIL/IIJA at the state and federal level. I have not spent time working on this issue”
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”Currently, the Iowa Utilities Board members are appointed by the governor, not elected by the public. I would advocate for the Iowa Utilities Board to be elected members rather than appointed, like more than a dozen of our neighboring states. If the actions of this board regarding carbon sequestration and imminent domain are truly in the best interest of the public, they should have no problem convincing constituents to re-elect them. I would also oppose private subsidies for carbon pipeline projects and instead advocate in the US House for a federal jobs guarantee building the necessary infrastructure to address current sequestration needs.”
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
”We have two things: what do we need to do now, and what do we need to work towards. Currently, we have an issue that carbon capture helps to address -- but this cannot be the long-term solution. To reach net zero emissions, we would need more than 90,000 miles of carbon sequestration pipeline in Iowa alone. This is not feasible without imminent domain, so I cannot support it as the end-all solution. We need to use options available, which include pipelines, but not at the risk of violating property owners' rights and with risk of damaging our environment, fragile ecosystems, or the community at-large. Long term, we need to continue investment and transition to renewable energies as a national security issue, with emphasis on publicly-owned infrastructure rather than private. I am also a proponent of federally guided nuclear infrastructure expansion. I am not a proponent of privately-owned nuclear infrastructure expansion as a national security concern.”
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?
”I am the only candidate using my platform to call for the Iowa Utilities Board to be an elected body rather than a body appointed by the governor. I believe voters can fix this much quicker than a hyper-divided State Legislature and Senate.”
U.S. House
(CD-4)
Dave Dawson (D)
Chris McGowan (R)
Jermaine Decker (I)
Dave Dawson (D)
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
“I do not support the use of eminent domain for the carbon dioxide pipelines because private property should not be taken for corporate economic purposes.”
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”I have stated my position opposing the use of eminent domain for the carbon dioxide pipelines repeatedly at public events during my campaign for the U.S. House over the last year. I have not been in elected office to take any other actions on this issue over the last 5 years.”
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
”I support passing a federal law in Congress that mirrors the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2017, which passed the U.S. House in 2018. This law would provide that no State or political subdivision could use its eminent domain power—either directly or through a delegated entity—over property intended for economic development within seven years after the use, if the State received Federal economic development funds during that fiscal year, and a violation of this rule would make the State or subdivision ineligible for Federal economic development funds for two fiscal years following a final court judgment on the merits. This law would help eliminate projects like the carbon dioxide pipeline proposal pending in Iowa which are being done for economic development and not a true public use. “
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
”CO2 in high concentrations can be hazardous to human health, so building a CO2 pipeline network raises safety issues which may affect private property owners located anywhere near the pipeline.”
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?
”I believe that I would actually take action to prevent eminent domain abuse at the federal level, but my opponent who is the president of the local chamber of commerce, is likely to follow the position taken by current Representative Feenstra, which is the position that there is really nothing that can be done at the federal level to address this issue.”
Do you believe eminent domain should be used for carbon dioxide pipelines? Why or why not?
What have you done in the last 5 years to help landowners protect their property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
If elected, what are you willing to do to help landowners protect property rights from carbon dioxide pipelines?
What are your biggest concerns about carbon dioxide pipelines and carbon capture?
What makes you stronger on property rights and carbon pipelines than your opponent?