Tom DeWeese
Citizens can stop the CO2 pipeline steamroller
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By Tom DeWeese
May 6, 2025

The fight to stop the carbon capture pipeline across five Midwest states is yielding some positive results. But the forces behind it haven’t given up. Now, three more states are targeted. This tyranny over farmers can be stopped — but only if citizens’ freedom-fighting determination and dedication stand strong.

The carbon capture pipeline is one of the worst environmental scams ever. In all my years of fighting the lies and insane policies of the radical Left, this is without doubt their DUMBEST plan – but it’s also one of the MOST DANGEROUS that we have ever faced – especially for farmers.

Thousands and thousands of acres of privately-owned, food-producing Midwest Corn Belt farmland are being targeted for a 1300-mile-long carbon capture pipeline. The targeted states are South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.

The scam is to capture CO2 carbon dioxide and TRANSPORT IT UNDERGROUND!

The CO2 is to be buried in underground tanks – to stop global warming! The worst part of this idiotic scam is that it ignores biological science. CO2 is NOT a pollutant. It is natural food for trees and plants. None can live without CO2.

Here’s a scientific fact that the radical Greens are ignoring; For life to exist on earth, we need an average of 1,600 parts per million of CO2 in our atmosphere. However, right now, according to a chart provided by the U.S. Navy, we have only 400 parts per million. That means we are facing CO2 starvation!

And yet, these so-called environmental “experts “are working to bury what we have in the ground – all to save the environment! This project is just as stupid and dangerous as Bill Gates’ plan to put up a sky level shield to block out the sun. And he proposed that with a straight face!

Just as I’ve been warning for over thirty-five years, all of this is part of the plot called for in Agenda 21, Agenda 2030, the Green New Deal and the Great Reset. In their words, “A blueprint for the reorganization of human society.” It has nothing to do with protecting the environment. It’s the scare tactic to get you to surrender your liberty to their global control.

Now, America’s farmers are on the front lines of the ground war to enforce that reorganization. Control the food – control our entire society. They are facing powerful forces — from rich corporations set on grabbing federal tax money to build the pipeline — to non-elected appointed government boards that are providing the power of eminent domain to enable those corporations to take any farmland they desire — to ignorant or corrupt elected representatives who refuse to stand up and protect their landowners.

I’ve run up against them all! It all started a couple of years ago when I was sponsored by the John Birch Society to travel to Iowa to address the carbon capture pipeline issue. I learned that the two main corporations pushing to build the pipeline were Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures.

They sent out letters to farmlands in the proposed path of the pipeline, saying “Our goal is to reach voluntary agreements with all landowners along the Project route…” The goal was to get all landowners to sign an easement to “voluntarily” give up their land in the path of the project.

That path of the pipeline is not along the edges of the property where it wouldn’t interfere with the farmer’s use to grow crops. No, the pipeline will meander across the farm wherever the corporations want it – sometimes even as close as 60 feet from the house. And it’s not just a ditch for the pipes. It also includes buffer zones that could be twenty feet wide or more. The farmer loses control of that entire area.

But it gets worse. The Summit letter went on to explain that, if the farmer refused to voluntarily cooperate- “…if we are unable to do so (voluntarily) we may need to request the right of eminent domain (condemnation) from the (non-elected appointed Iowa Utilities Board. In other words, the corporation would use eminent domain to just take the land. Can you imagine how the farmers felt? Who stood with them to protect their land and their livelihood?

Then I was given a copy of a letter written by some Iowa county supervisors. It said the supervisors didn’t support the pipeline, but “THERE’S NOT MUCH WE CAN DO. IT LOOKS LIKE IT’S JUST GOING TO HAPPEN.”

That’s when I barnstormed the state and as I spoke to local audiences, I challenged all the county supervisors. “How dare you,” I said. “Who do you represent?” “Who will stand for these citizens? You swore an oath to represent THEM.” Further, I charged that the Iowa Utilities Board was not elected by anyone. And it was not the boss of these elected officials. I challenged them – “YOU COWARDS! When are you going to stand up and serve the people who elected you?”

I was surprised to learn that my speech was recorded by a local activist. He used the recording to make 300 DVDs and passed them out across the state, including to many county supervisors. And then he rented a movie theater and showed my recorded speech to a larger public audience.

The result was that several county supervisors did act. A few counties began to pass property rights protection legislation for the citizens in their individual areas. The legislation helped to serve as a roadblock to the pipeline, even as other counties took no action. That was a great start in the effort to stand up to the corporations.

Then the battle shifted to South Dakota where many farmers were publicly opposing the pipeline. Again, as in Iowa, I travelled across the state, speaking to local activists, providing ideas on how to stand up and fight to protect their property and farmers. In fact, I have been given credit by some of the local activists for inspiring positive action in their fight.

The fight in South Dakota became vicious as the corporations took action to silence opposition. One farmer, Jared Bossly, was very open in his opposition to the pipeline. He had signs posted on his property specifically notifying the pipeline corporations to not come on his property without his permission.

Summit Carbon Solutions decided to make an example of him to show other farmers what would happen if they openly opposed the pipeline. One day, without warning, as Bossly was out working in his fields, Summit arrived at his house. They began to walk around his property and even entered his barn where he had his farm office.

His wife, scared by these strangers on their land, called Jared, who was working out in the field. In a quick six second phone conversation with her, he said “we will need to get the sheriff involved.”

Jared did not talk directly to the surveyors. But those surveyors reported that he had threatened their lives. HE DID NO SUCH THING. But a judge put a restraining order on him, as if he was a danger to these corporate trespassers.

Then, less than two weeks later, Summit sent another team to his property, complete with armed guards and huge equipment designed to drill 90-foot-deep holes into his soil. They drove this monster equipment over his soybean and corn crops destroying them. But, by order of the judge, Jared was not allowed to confront or interact with them – on his own property.

It is obvious that Summit’s purpose in this intimidation tactic was to scare other farmers from opposing the pipeline on their own land, and to silence their opposition. That tactic backfired! Instead of silencing them, farmers rose up like never before in opposition. Within days, the farmers held a rally at the South Dakota state capital, demanding that the governor and state legislature take action to protect their property rights.

The battle has taken a positive turn. Suddenly, Navigator cancelled its plans to build its pipeline. In addition, recently, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden signed a bill banning the use of eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines.

Of course, that is a huge victory and should end the threat. But the real problem is Summit Carbon Solutions. It’s planning legal action to stop the ban. Also, Summit is looking for a possible new route around South Dakota to continue the pipeline into North Dakota. Most recently, a new carbon capture pipeline project has been announced to cover Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania. For those states, the battle begins anew.

The Carbon Capture Pipeline is a scam that has nothing to do with protecting the environment. It is simply a weapon to take valuable farmland as evil forces work to impose their global agenda on us. The key weapon for stopping the threat is to fight for protection of property rights. Local elected officials must make the determination – who do they represent? – private corporations and non-elected Boards, or the people who elected them?

© Tom DeWeese

 

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Tom DeWeese

Tom DeWeese is one of the nation's leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education, and American sovereignty and independence... (more)

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