Proposed resolutions will focus on pipeline safety

 SHELBY COUNTY — The Shelby County Board of Supervisors have planned public hearing dates to discuss and pass two resolutions at each of the three public hearings regarding the proposed carbon pipeline that will run through the county.
 Two ordinances will be read and discussed at meetings held at 9 a.m. at the C.G. Therkildsen Activity Center August 2, August 16, and August 23.
 Board of Supervisor  Chairman Steve Kenkel said the three hearings pertain to how the process works regarding Iowa Code and safety issues.
 “We want to make sure there’s a plan in place,” Kenkel said.
 The first proposed resolution will regulate the restoration of both agricultural and non-agricultural land caused by the construction of the pipeline, and will grant the County the “authority to implement land use controls to protect the general welfare of County residents from the adverse financial and environmental impacts of pipeline construction and operation.”
 Kenkel said, “Any damages will be regulated through Iowa Code process. We will be adopting the State Code at the County level. We want to make certain that repairs for any damages to tile lines, wells, driveways, or anything will be covered by the pipeline.”
 Kenkel stated that the Board, through a county inspector will document the data from the pipeline company so landowners have a record to retrieve damages from the company.
 The remaining resolution will focus on safety. “We want to make sure our residents and livestock facilities are safe, which is our job,” Kenkel said.
 The existing emergency response plan for Shelby County does not evaluate the risk of or plan for a response to a rupture of a carbon dioxide pipeline.
 The proposed resolutions reference the 2020 carbon dioxide pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi, which “caused a number of residents to become unconscious or intoxicated, required hospitalization of  persons and evacuation of more than two hundred persons, and also put the lives and welfare of local emergency response personnel at risk”.
 Board Chairman Kenkel said the Supervisors want to know what the safety hazards are and what the setbacks need to be.
 Kenkel stated that if approved, the proposed resolutions will be one of the first of its kind in the State of Iowa, and Shelby County will work together with the Iowa Utility Board in establishing a safe route with setbacks.
 Kenekel said boards from other counties are looking to implement similar resolutions, and one called the proposed resolutions from Shelby County “one of the more comprehensive plans” seen so far.
 “We are working hard to focus on safety, that is our number one priority,” Kenkel said.