After several years of debate, the carbon capture pipeline was approved this week by the Iowa Utilities Board, which also granted permission to Summit Carbon Solutions to use eminent domain when necessary. “It’s a controversial issue, and I don’t see that changing,” AgriTalk host Chip Flory said on the latest episode of Unscripted, a new Farm Journal podcast. “A majority wants this to happen, but you can’t ignore the rights and concerns of the minority.”
Flory and his AgriTalk co-host, Davis Michaelsen, joined Clinton Griffiths on the podcast, which offers a candid, behind-the-scenes review of the week’s stories that Farm Journal journalists are covering or following. Flory and Michaelsen agree that they understand why, despite possible environmental and economic benefits, some landowners are unhappy with the idea of a CO2 pipeline running through their property. “Their ground is sacred to them,” Michaelsen said. Flory agreed, adding, “I hope they can find agreement so eminent domain doesn’t have to be used.”
If Iowans are split on approving the pipeline, they’ve come together to help their neighbors during the recent floods that have plagued the state. Flory said he tried to get a number of farmers onto his radio show to talk about the flooding but all were too busy helping other farmers battle the water to be interviewed. “They were making sure that others were safe,” he told Griffiths, who was not at all surprised. “That’s what the [farm] community does so well,” he said. “People helping people.”
On every episode of Unscripted, hosts and guests talk about the craziest stories they’ve heard about or covered in the past week, and they had plenty to choose from. Michaelsen mentioned that a bull is loose — and lost — on the streets of Boston. Apparently a resident didn’t know that having a bull within city limits is illegal. Nor does he know how the bull got away. So far, police efforts to find the bull have been unsuccessful despite the use of drones.
Griffiths brought up a story about a Missouri woman who was arrested last week after her husband accused her of spiking his Mountain Dew with Roundup® herbicide. The husband complained that his soda had been tasting funny lately and also that he’d been feeling sick. Using a security camera, he caught his wife in the act and called the local police. Griffiths explained that the husband believes his wife had designs on his $500K life insurance policy, but she claims to have done it as payback for his frequent lack of appreciation of her. Host and guests agreed that appreciating one’s spouse is always a wise idea.
