Q&A with Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Navigator CO2 Executive

Navigator CO2 is one of many companies working to build a multistate pipeline dedicated to carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS), primarily from ethanol plants. 

Successful Farming caught up with Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, vice president of government and public affairs for Navigator, to discuss common concerns raised about the project. Burns-Thompson is an Iowa native who grew up on her family’s farm. Before joining Navigator CO2 she worked for Chevron Renewable Energy Group, the nation’s leading biodiesel and renewable diesel producer; Iowa Corn Growers Association; and Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. 

Navigator’s pipeline will connect to ethanol and fertilizer facilities in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and ultimately Illinois, where carbon will be stored underground. The company is currently navigating the local, state, and federal permit processes and targeting 2024 for construction.

SF: Let’s start by talking about the 2023 legislative session. Bills dealing with pipeline permitting or eminent domain were introduced in several states within your project footprint. Did anything noteworthy come out of those?

EBT: What we saw pretty holistically is an evolution of understanding. A lot of folks are not very familiar with the state-level siting and permitting processes. I think we started with a lot of questions that came about as different legislative proposals. Those were winnowed down as folks gathered a better understanding of why we build pipelines, how we build pipelines, how they’re permitted, and the level of oversight associated with them, such that there has not been any robust changes to the processes.

SF: Eminent domain has been a hot-button topic when it comes to CCUS pipelines. What do you think is driving landowners’ concerns?

EBT: Misconceptions related to eminent domain and the processes. Eminent domain does not save us time. It does not save us money. It does not make us any friends. There’s not a business today, including farm operations, that is not looking at optimizing its financial resources and time. And generally, they want the people they do business with to like them as well.

We are incentivized to do this in a voluntary process as much as possible. When we talk about condemnation or eminent domain as a tool of last resort, we don’t say that just to make ourselves feel good.

SF: The safety of CCUS pipelines is another big concern. How is Navigator addressing those questions?

EBT: There are always concerns about the unknown, and fortunately, but also unfortunately, pipelines are somewhat out of sight and out of mind for many folks. They’re not aware of what is currently being transported via pipelines, all around the country. When you do the comparisons of over-the-road trucks vs. rail vs. pipelines, pipelines are far and beyond the safest means of transportation. 

We’ve highlighted safety from step one. That was part of our informational presentations when we introduced the project to the public. We followed up with educational training sessions with local first responders across the project footprint throughout January and February. We will come back this fall and develop hyperlocal response plans. After you develop the plans, you test them. We’re also equipping them with the tools, technologies, and equipment they need to effectuate those plans. Only at that point would we ever put the pipeline into service.

SF: On the topic of safety, there was a video of a CCUS pipeline rupture test making the rounds earlier this year. The massive white plume of carbon dioxide (CO2) that resulted from the rupture had some people nervous. What would you say to readers who saw the video and are concerned about having a CCUS pipeline near their property?

EBT: That was a simulated test by a certifying entity. Everything that was captured and learned out of that test was incorporated into a model we are utilizing. So, if that video gives you pause or scares you, know that everything that they learned from that, we are proactively incorporating.

SF: Do you want to say anything else about safety?

EBT: I think the biggest misconception is the concept of grandfathering. That if we build it fast enough, we are then exempt from any new rules that come down the road. That’s just not the case.

SF: Where will you be on your timeline in August?

EBT: By August we will have completed the public hearing associated with the state siting permit in South Dakota and gearing up for public hearings later this fall in Illinois and likely early 2024 in Iowa and Minnesota. 

SF: Some of the strongest supporters of CCUS are those in the ethanol industry. How does Navigator fit into ethanol’s story? 

EBT: In order to turn CO2 into a valuable coproduct, we need investment in infrastructure. Not only to capture and handle it, but also transport it, both to places for geological sequestration and market utilization.

We plan to have terminals incorporated into phase one. Whether CO2 ends up in sequestration, in a terminal, or used somewhere else is up to the shipper; i.e., the ethanol plant or the fertilizer plant that’s on our line. We are just the transporter of that CO2 on their behalf.

SF: Is that why some are concerned it could end up being used for enhanced oil recovery?

EBT: CO2 has been utilized for enhanced oil recovery, where effectively they’re putting CO2 down into older oil wells to push out the remaining last bits of what’s left in that well. But just because the technology's been applied in that industry doesn't mean that same technology can't also be applied here in corn country and provide exponential benefits here. As your readers know, we sit in the Corn Belt, so our project is not even in a footprint to be able to use it for enhanced oil recovery. Also, if you look at the market opportunity associated with CO2, the economics would justify that it is either going to geological sequestration or to be utilized in one of the marketplaces that we do utilize CO2 for in the Midwest, such as food and beverage marketplaces and livestock processing. 

SF: Would you like to address any other common questions? 

EBT: One of the things that I hear a lot is: If I’m not a believer in climate change, then what value is this? Sustainability is both economic and environmental. You do not have to be a believer in climate change in order to see and quantify the value of carbon capture technology and infrastructure projects like ours. The ability to really create an efficient, reliable transportation system for CO2 is an economic opportunity for the Midwest. The ability to match a willing paying customer to a willing supply from the marketplace is capitalism. 

SF: Do you think landowners and state and local governments understand the economic opportunity presented by the pipelines? 

EBT: I think they’re beginning to understand it. I remember when carbon was a dirty word, and now it’s difficult to open an ag publication, an ag newsletter, or sit in a farm meeting or commodity meeting and not hear the words carbon or climate. 

When you take a step back and look at our biggest markets for ethanol, domestically that’s California and internationally that’s Canada. What do those two have in common? They bothhave carbon-based fuel metrics, and thus carbon will continue to determine value for fuels and the ag feedstocks they are produced from.

SF Bio

Name: Elizabeth Burns-Thompson

Background: Burns-Thompson grew up in Iowa on her family’s farm. Before joining Navigator CO₂ she worked for the nation’s leading biodiesel and renewable diesel producer, Chevron Renewable Energy Group. 

Education: She holds a J.D. from Drake Law School with a specialization in agricultural law and policy, and a B.S. in agricultural business and international agriculture from Iowa State University.