POET Plans to Fast-Track Ethanol Climate Goals with Midwest Carbon Pipeline Project
(Reuters) — Ethanol producer POET said it hopes to meet some of its climate goals early as a result of a new partnership it announced this week with a Midwest carbon capture and storage pipeline.
POET’s decision to partner with Navigator CO2 Ventures is a major boost for the pipeline project, which aims to capture greenhouse gases from Midwest ethanol processing plants and transport it to underground storage sites.
POET had pledged in 2021 to make its biofuels 70% less emissions intensive than gasoline by 2030. But the Navigator partnership means participating plants will achieve 75% lower emissions, said President Jeff Lautt.
The pipeline "would get more than half of our plants to that goal early," Lautt said.
Navigator would pipe some 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from 18 POET plants across Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota to underground storage sites in Illinois and will be operational by 2025, according to a company statement.
The ethanol industry claims its fuel is already nearly 50% lower in emissions than gasoline. But recent research has suggested ethanol could actually emit more carbon than gasoline due to tilling land under to grow corn.
Opponents along the path of the pipeline in the Midwest fear they could lose land under eminent domain law, and that their crop yields could suffer during construction.
In Iowa, where Navigator would run the most pipeline miles, 18 of the 36 counties on its proposed route have filed opposition to the project with the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), according to a Reuters review of the IUB docket.
Some farmers who oppose the pipeline and sell to POET are angered with the decision, saying the company had told them they would not seek a pipeline partnership.
"We’re disgusted and disappointed," said Kim Junker, an Iowa POET supplier whose farm is along the Navigator route.
Related News
Related News
- Trump Aims to Revive 1,200-Mile Keystone XL Pipeline Despite Major Challenges
- ONEOK Agrees to Sell Interstate Gas Pipelines to DT Midstream for $1.2 Billion
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- Boardwalk Approves 110-Mile, 1.16 Bcf/d Mississippi Kosci Junction Pipeline Project
- Kinder Morgan Approves $1.4 Billion Mississippi Crossing Project to Boost Southeast Gas Supply
- Tullow Oil on Track to Deliver $600 Million Free Cash Flow Over Next 2 Years
- GOP Lawmakers Slam New York for Blocking $500 Million Pipeline Project
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- Polish Pipeline Operator Offers Firm Capacity to Transport Gas to Ukraine in 2025
- Macquarie, Dow Launch $2.4 Billion Gulf Coast Pipeline Infrastructure Partnership
Comments