”Each and every landowner has to be satisfied that they are being compensated and that all their questions about tiling and other topics are being answered,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig told a Fort Dodge audience Thursday.

He was asked for his thoughts on the carbon dioxide pipelines during his talk at the Farm News Ag Show, held at the East Campus of Iowa Central Community College..

Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC has proposed a 1,300-mile pipeline, with 900 of those miles in Iowa, to transport 75 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year from ethanol plants to a site in Illinois. Summit Carbon Solutions has also proposed a pipeline in Iowa, but that one would take carbon dioxide to North Dakota.

”I’m convinced that, yes, we can capture carbon dioxide, put it under pressure, put it in pipelines and move it to underground storage,” Naig said.

”Does that benefit ethanol? You bet it does,” he added.

Naig noted that 50 percent of the corn grown in Iowa now is used for ethanol production.

He said farmers are hearing more and more about carbon sequestration lately. Preventing carbon from getting into the atmosphere is viewed as a way to fight climate change.

Renewable fuels, like ethanol and biodiesel, are ”lower carbon based,” according to Naig. Moving to higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel will reduce carbon emissions even more, he said.

Naig said he is not opposed to electric vehicles, but he is concerned that President Joe Biden seems to be emphasizing electric vehicles at the expense of home grown renewable fuels.

”Why should we just sweep away all our progress on ethanol and biodiesel and go all in on that?” he asked.

Renewable fuels are made in the United States, while key components for electric vehicles have to be imported, he said.

Looking forward to 2022, Naig said fertilizer prices ”are very much a concern.”

He added that the Biden Administration is planning to revise the Waters of the United States rule which will likely affect farmers. He said the Obama administration ”went too far,” and the Trump administration repealed that version and ”finally brought some clarity.”