Letter from Lee County Resident to Iowa Utilities Board.
T. Andrew & Amber N. Johnson
2525 165th Street
West Point, Iowa 52656
December 28, 2021
Iowa Utilities Board
1375 E. Court Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0069
RE: Docket No. HLP-2021-0003
To Whom It May Concern;
I would like to voice my opinions and objections regarding the Heartland Greenway Navigator CO2 pipeline (Docket HLP-2021-0003). For over 25 years, I have been employed in the natural gas pipeline industry. Pipelines have blessed our family with a good life. The good wages that come with working in the natural gas pipeline industry has enabled us to build a new house, purchase multiple farms over the years, and buy investment properties.
I started as a meter reader, worked my way thru a welding apprenticeship, and was then promoted to a Senior Gas Service Technician Crew Leader. I am very familiar with the 192 DOT codes for pipeline construction, operations and maintenance. I have been involved in all aspects of welding onstruction,destructive testing, nick break, bend test, X-ray, air testing, hydro testing, leak survey (walking, mobile and aerial), high consequence areas, patrols, road and rail casing crossings, cathodic protection, anode installation and maintenance, rectifier voltage, millivolt potential inspections, bond/shunt inspections with other pipelines crossing in the same area, leak investigations, locates, appliance operations, hit lines, and the list goes on and on. I guess what I am trying to say is that we have been able to build a great life for our family because of the pipeline industry, and I know that pipelines are one of the safest and most reliable means of transporting products from one location to another.
Amber and I got married over 20 years ago, and started our dreams together of building a house in the country and starting a family. In 2000 we bought 17 acres, built a 220 foot bridge over the creek, and moved a mobile home onto the property. In 2003 we bought another 120 acres of farm land that bordered our property. We worked on building our house from 2008 thru 2011, shedding a lot of blood, sweat and tears as we did most of the construction on our own while raising 2 small children and orking.
In 2012 we welcomed our third child, and purchased another 25 acres, again adjoining our property. In 2013 we bought roughly 2 acres of timber land along the creek, and the last land purchase we made was about a 70 acre parcel of 100% timber land just east of our house, also bordering our existing property. Since the day we bought our initial 17 acres, we hoped the day would come that the timber land east of our house would go up for sale, because those trees would be the perfect buffer for our home. It was our greatest fear that someone would log off the trees or build houses on the timber property next to us. So, in the middle of a global pandemic, in November of 2020, that timber land next to us went up for auction. We were the highest bidder. Buying the property at the price we paid made no logical sense. But we were determined that no one would ever cut those trees down in our lifetime.
So we bought it, and enrolled it in a forest reserve program. This came at a cost. I always work the over time, we mow lawns for extra money, our family does not take vacations, we have never owned new vehicles, we do not have RV’s, motorcycles or boats. My truck is 25 years old and I have been driving it for the last 15 years. Those trees mean the world to our family. It is a buffer for our house, a home to lots of wildlife, a peaceful place to take a walk thru the woods, shade from the hot summer sun for our horses, and an awesome place to hunt.
If Heartland Greenway Navigator CO2 pipeline builds on their projected route, it will go right thru the middle of our timber ground, robbing us of those trees we so dearly love. Granting a pipeline construction easement thru our woods will destroy thousands of trees older than you and I. The woods will never be the same. New trees can be planted, but in my lifetime, they will never get as big as they are now. It will take decades for the wildlife to come back as abundant as they are today. Erosion will be a concern on the land stripped of the trees, not to mention the fact that trees are a necessary part of a healthy environment, oxygenating the air we all breathe.
I am not opposed to a CO2 pipeline being constructed, but I am opposed to it being constructed on the land of property owners like me and my wife. I beg of you to only allow pipeline construction along the public right of way, so that my property and many others’ property will not be subjected to the ill effects of construction damage.
Respectfully,
T. Andrew Johnson
CC: Governor Kim Reynolds
Lee County Board of Supervisors