Flyover Country

How a Pipeline Could make the Bakken the 3rd largest global producing field

"Sometimes the best way forward is back through what you already know."
– Peter Thiel

Provided by thweek.com

For over a century, Iowa has held a unique position at the crossroads of American agriculture, politics, and energy. In presidential election cycles, it is the first state to caucus, giving it disproportionate influence in shaping national political narratives. Presidential hopefuls descend upon county fairs and ethanol plants alike, pledging allegiance to the Midwestern farmer and the economic bedrock of rural America.

But beyond its role in campaign trail optics, Iowa has served as a practical testbed for federal agricultural and energy policy. The rise of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in the early 2000s turned Iowa into a powerhouse for corn ethanol, embedding biofuels deep into the economic and political structure of the state. Ethanol became both a product and a political currency—creating entrenched interests among agribusinesses, landowners, and lawmakers.

In this context, decisions made in Iowa carry national weight. When its government endorses or resists energy infrastructure, the implications ripple far beyond the state’s borders. That’s what makes the June 2024 veto of House File 639 by Governor Kim Reynolds so consequential. The legislation, designed to limit the use of eminent domain for private CO₂ pipelines, was positioned as a bulwark against corporate overreach. Its defeat clears the path for Summit Carbon Solutions' multi-billion-dollar pipeline—and potentially sets the stage for a renaissance in American oil production, centered not in Texas or the Permian, but in the aging shale of North Dakota.

Summit Carbon Solutions plans to build a 688-mile pipeline that will transport up to 18 million tons of carbon dioxide per year from 57 ethanol plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota to a storage site in North Dakota. The project, named the Midwest Carbon Express, is billed as a decarbonization initiative—a way to make corn ethanol "net zero" by capturing and storing its emissions underground.

The company’s public messaging emphasizes environmental benefits and rural economic development. What it omits is equally important. The pipeline route ends just 5 to 15 miles from active leases in the Bakken shale play, one of America’s most prolific oil formations. That proximity raises the possibility—if not the probability—that some of the CO₂ will be used not for permanent storage, but for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), a process that uses injected carbon to coax additional oil from depleted wells.

The pipeline may be presented as green infrastructure, but its design and location suggest it is also a long-term investment in fossil fuel recovery.