(Radio Iowa) – Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says the government should not grant carbon pipeline developers authority to seize land from Iowans who do not want the pipeline on their property.  “You have a lot of other Republicans that have been trained to behave like circus monkeys on this issue. You’re supposed to dance to the tune of certain puppet masters. I refuse to do that,” Ramaswamy says. “Eminent domain should not be an option for anything to do with a carbon dioxide pipeline because it is not necessary.”

On Friday in Des Moines, Ramaswamy will appear at an event with a group of carbon pipeline opponents called the Free Soil Coalition. “Eminent domain is legally inappropriate,” Ramaswamy says. “I believe it is illegal and unconstitutional and I would like for at least Republicans to have the spine to stand up and at least speak that obvious truth.” Ramaswamy says his competitors for the G-O-P presidential nomination should clearly state their views on the issue. He’s also challenging Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed rival Ron DeSantis, to say whether she’s on the side of eminent domain or not.

“Anybody who is implicitly or explicitly supporting the use of eminent domain for this carbon dioxide capture pipeline is on the wrong side of this issue,” Ramaswamy says. “I don’t care if they have an R after their name. I don’t care if they’re a governor you’re supposed to otherwise bow down to in the state of Iowa.” Ramaswamy says the issue exposes what he describes as the broken and corrupt state of the Republican Party establishment.  “And I’m frankly ashamed of a Republican Party that hasn’t had the spine to speak up about an issue that matters to this many constituents,” Ramaswamy says.

Ramaswamy says he’s met with influential Republican donor Bruce Rastetter, who owns Summit Carbon Solutions — the Iowa company seeking a state permit to construct and operate a pipeline to ship carbon out of ethanol plants to underground storage in North Dakota. Ramaswamy says pipeline backers are welcome to show up at Friday’s event to have a civil, open debate about the Summit and Wolf pipelines. Ramaswamy says the projects make no sense and the risks of running liquid carbon through an underground pipeline do not match the purported benefits.