(Radio Iowa) – The process is underway that could lead to the construction of the first ever carbon dioxide pipeline in Iowa. Iowa Utilities Board spokesman, Don Tormey says Summit Carbon Solutions is considering the pipeline. “It’s referred to as the midwest carbon express, proposed to run through several midwest states, including Iowa. The project in Iowa would be proposed to cross 30 Iowa counties,” Tormey says.

Summit Carbon Solutions is an affiliate of the Summit Agricultural Group owned by Bruce Rastetter of Alden. Tormey says the project would be classified as a hazardous liquid pipeline — and that is why it falls under the I-U-B’s jurisdiction. “The project proposes to partner with a number of ethanol plants in five states to capture carbon dioxide emissions and transport the liquified carbon dioxide to North Dakota, where it will be stored in deep underground geologic storage locations, ” according to Tormey. The first step is to set up hearings in the counties that would be impacted.

“After all the meetings have concluded, the company has to wait at least 30 days to file a petition with the I-U-B for a new pipeline permit,” he explains. “Once they file, that gets reviewed by the board and staff and there are several steps in the process. For example, setting a public hearing date, setting dates for testimony and exhibits to be filed, that sort of thing.” He says landowners will get a notice of the upcoming hearings on the pipeline. Tormey says if you can’t attend the meeting in your county you can attend one in another county, and the I-U-B will offer a virtual meeting on October 12th at 5:30 p-m.

Tormey says there are other ways you can comment on the pipeline. He says you can file written comments or objections electronically using the I-U-B open docket form on their website, or through an email to customer@IUB@iowa.gov. The first public hearing is in Hardin County at noon on September 13th. Other public hearings will be held, locally, in:

Crawford County – October 5, 6 p.m., Memorial Hall, 550 Main St, Manilla
Shelby County – October 6, noon, Therkildsen Activity Center, 706 Victoria St, Harlan
Pottawattamie County – October 6, 6 p.m., Impact Hill, 501 Oakland Ave, Oakland
Mills County – October 11, noon, Lakin Community Center, 61321 315th St, Malvern
Fremont County – October 11, 6 p.m., The Waterfalls, 907 Hartford Ave, Farragut

One person died, two others – including an 8 month old child – were injured during a collision between a train and an SUV Saturday afternoon, in Muscatine County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2020 VW Atlas SUV was traveling northbound on Columbus Street in West Liberty at around 2:07-p.m., when it entered the path of a westbound train and was struck.

The 27-year-old driver of the SUV and the 8 year old were injured. A 26-year-old passenger died in the crash. The injured were transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. No names had been released as of early Sunday morning.

The accident remains under investigation.

(Audubon, Iowa) – Members of the Audubon Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a Special Session and Public Hearing Monday evening, on the proposed issuance of approximately $3.4-million in School Infrastructure Sales, Services and Use Tax Revenue and Refunding bonds. Superintendent Eric Trager has said approval of the bond measure is part of the process needed to finance the district’s building renovation project. Following the public hearing, the Board will take action Monday on a resolution supporting the issuance of the aforementioned bonds

The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the High School. The next regular Board meeting will be held Monday, September 20^th.

(Radio Iowa) – Filming is scheduled in November, in Kossuth County, for a movie about a World War Two camp near Algona for German prisoners. The movie’s crew was in the area last weekend, scouting possible filming locations. D. J. Perry is the C-E-O of Collective Development and author of the screenplay for “Silent Night in Algona.” “If we find something and then the owners are agreeable to having us shoot there, sometimes it’s actually deconstructing or taking modern stuff out temporarily,” he says. “Sometimes it’s set directing and adding stuff to a location.” Perry says they’re looking for homes and buildings that were around 77 years ago — during the fall and early winter of 1944. The crew was in Whittemore and Lone Rock this past weekend, searching for places to film. “We’ll be back in end of October with our art team and starting to turn everything into 1944,” he says.

The film will focus on a four month period in late 1944 — from September through December. “It’s about unity, it’s about patriotism — a lot of themes that are very relevant to what’s going on now as well and it’s important that things aren’t forgotten from the past,” he says. “As we know, we are doomed to repeat mistakes if you don’t learn from your past.” Lead actors for the film have been cast, but Perry says they’ll be looking for area residents to be extras and assist in other ways. “When you see those end credits of the movie — all the special thanks and all the people involved, that’s what it takes,” Perry says. “It takes a small army to make these things happen.”

Perry says filming will take about three weeks and he expects the movie to be released in 2022. Perry’s company is based in Michigan and announced this summer two German actors will play lead roles in the film. Another actor who had role in two t-v dramas — St. Elsewhere and Tour of Duty — will portray the Kossuth County Sheriff in the film. Algona was notified in 1943 that a P-O-W camp would be built in the county and an estimated 10-thousand German soldiers passed through until it was dismantled in 1946. A 20-foot by 60-foot nativity scene carved by six German P-O-Ws remains in Algona.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic’s Personnel and Finance Committee is set to meet 5:30-p.m. Monday, Aug. 30th, in the City Council’s Chambers, at City Hall. During their session, the Committee will review and act on a recommendation to the City Council, with regard to a request to connect the City’s Sanitary Sewer to a commercial property at 60365 Glacier Road. City Administrator John Lund says a new business has signed a lease for the building on the City’s northwest side, that will create 10-to-12 jobs, and are requesting a sanitary sewer hook-up.

Persons with property outside the City Limits must receive approval from the Atlantic City Council before the hook-up can be made. Lund says he will endorse the P&F Committee recommendation because “It is in the best interest of tax payers,” and it would expand the tax base, creating “Downward pressure on property taxes.” Lund says in the future, the City should “Insist on annexation of properties wanting to connect to our utilities.” In this instance, however, the City has already extended utilities far beyond the limits, and there are parcels of land in between “that make annexation impractical, if not unfeasible,” according to Lund.

He added “The City has placed itself in this situation, where we cannot leverage sewer access to compel annexation. We should consider this an instructive lesson. This is not something we should ever do again.”  In other business, the Personnel and Finance Committee will review and act on making a recommendation to the Council, with regard to East 3rd Street Place Land Donations, and with regard to a New Business Incentive Proposal.