A press release sent out by the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club last week that claimed Summit Carbon Solutions owes thousands of dollars in reimbursements to Iowa counties took up most of the time at a brief meeting of the Wright County supervisors Feb. 26.
Citizen Bob Ritter, who has been fighting against the pipeline, asked if SCS owes the county more than $13,000. Supervisor Dean Kluss read an email from Kristina Paradise of Snyder & Associates where she recounted a meeting with SCS officials who did not understand the charges. Paradis said the county should receive a payment within 15 days, or she will contact the company again. The email was dated Feb. 17.
The Sierra Club press release said SCS has accrued nearly $60,000 in unpaid bills that are several months old owed to more than half a dozen counties across Iowa. A majority of the delinquent invoices relate to preparatory work completed by county inspectors, which Summit is required to repay.
An excerpt from the press release stated:
“In one example, Summit has an outstanding bill of $15,000 to Webster County. This failure to compensate local communities appears in direct contrast to Summit’s recent claim stating that the company’s proposed carbon pipeline project would provide economic benefits to Iowa counties that would ‘help schools, improve the area, and support the local townships.
In response, Dan Tronchetti, a landowner facing the threat of eminent domain by Summit, stated, ‘We’ve said all along that Summit lacks ethics and integrity, but this is just another slap in the face. During a time where many Iowans are struggling just to survive, there is no excuse for a purported multi-billion dollar corporation to not pay its bills on time. Perhaps if they hadn’t spent so much on purchasing politicians, they could afford to reimburse our counties.’
Landowners and communities across the state are questioning why Iowa would want to do business with an industry that threatens lawsuits, sues counties for passing common-sense zoning ordinance protections, misleads and conceals safety information and is delinquent on bills for work completed on the project.”
Auditor Betty Ellis said she would be in touch with Ritter and the supervisors about the amount owed, and any payment that is received.
In other business, the board:
—asked that the matter of overpayment of property taxes by Clarmond Country Club be placed on the March 4 agenda;
—appointed Mark Grundmeier to replace Ron Jurgens on the Pleasant Township Board of Trustees;
—and heard that brush pick-up in five townships has been completed.
