Published: Dec. 20, 2024 at 4:15 PM CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Former Iowa Congressman Steve King says the company trying to build a carbon sequestration pipeline through five states is trying to silence him for opposing it.

King has been an outspoken critic of the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline, and doesn’t think the company should get authority to force access onto landowners’ property if they don’t want the pipeline to run through it.

“I’m probably the last person that’d ever be intimidated by this but there are a lot of people that are intimidated by this,” he said.

King says Summit has sent him a letter demanding he stop making statements the company claims are false and defamatory. “Anybody that reads this letter would just know okay they’ve heard all they can stand now and they don’t want to hear anymore so we’ll send him a cease and desist letter and then that will scare him and shut him up but I think they’ve known me for a long time and I don’t know why they could ever come to that conclusion,” he said.

Randy Evans, a retired reporter and government transparency advocate, says these letters and subsequent lawsuits are called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPP Suits.

“Some plaintiffs use these lawsuits as a way to intimidate defendants and force them into remaining silent about public policy issues that they may want to be involved in,” Evans said.

King says something should be done about it. “There should be a way that free people can defend themselves without being exposed in a way that would make them go broke paying lawyers,” he said.

Evans agrees. In the next legislative session, he says lawmakers should pass anti-SLAPP laws. Evans says anti-SLAPP laws allow for judges early on in a case to decide whether it’s a nuisance lawsuit.

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