110 Iowa L. Rev. 2101 (2025)
Abstract
The transition to a clean energy economy is underway. But the amount of climate mitigation that it produces will depend on the speed of the transition. One of the largest impediments to a speedy transition is local opposition to clean energy infrastructure such as high-voltage transmission lines and carbon pipelines. Private landowners often do not view clean energy infrastructure as a public benefit. Quite the opposite: They often view these projects as boondoggles for wealthy corporate actors that seek to cash in on federal subsidies. Given these views, it is hardly surprising that somelandowners refuse to sell the easements that companies need to build this infrastructure across private property. Also unsurprising is their opposition to the use of eminent domain to force these sales.
Unfortunately, recent federal subsidies designed to incentivize the clean energy transition cannot solve the local opposition problem. In fact, they may be exacerbating the problem by furthering the perception that infrastructurebenefits only private corporate interests. Demand-side policies, like a carbon tax, that create better markets for this infrastructure would help, but they would not address the concerns of all landowners. In addition, the fact that clean energy infrastructure supports new technologies and markets may make state eminent domain laws, drafted with fossil fuels and regulated utilities in mind, susceptible to legal challenges.
These challenges make a federal siting regime for clean energy infrastructure a necessity. This Article lends support to the scholarship calling for federal siting authority by examining local opposition to clean energy infrastructure in critical midwestern states. The first Part outlines the urgency of the clean energy transition and the recent federal legislation designed to support it, followed by an overview of recent opposition to utility-scale renewables in the Midwest. The focus then turns to clean energy infrastructure and the use of eminent domain with a particular focus on the intense opposition in the Midwest to carbon pipelines designed to capture and transport carbon emissions from ethanol refineries.