(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Shelby County will consider an ordinance that would establish some restrictions for where carbon pipelines could be routed. Steve Kenkel is Chairman of the Shelby County Board of Supervisors.

The proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would run through Earling and Westphalia in Shelby County. The proposed zoning ordinance would prevent hazardous liquid pipelines from being built within two miles of city limits. Shelby County Public Health director Lori Hoch says it would be up to local emergency crews to respond to pipeline ruptures or failures.

The ordinance would require any liquid pipeline to be half a mile from hospitals, schools, churches and nursing homes. A spokesman for Summit Carbon Solutions says the proposed Shelby County ordinance is inconsistent with Iowa law, as the legislature has granted the Iowa Utilities Board authority over the permits, siting and regulation of pipelines that convey hazardous liquids. Summit’s spokesman says the company has voluntary easements from 900 Iowa property owners for about 53 percent of the land along its proposed route.

The Supervisors in Shelby County, Tuesday, passed a resolution fixing the dates for three public hearings on a proposal to amend various sections of the Shelby County Zoning Ordinance for the purpose of regulating and restricting the use of land for the transport of hazardous liquid through a hazardous liquid pipeline. The hearings will be held in the Therkildsen Center in Harlan at 10:00 A.M. on October 18th and October 25th, and at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Harlan at 10:00 A.M. on November 1st.

(Reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)