BlackRock-Backed Navigator Scraps US Corn Belt CO2 Pipe Plan
- Ethanol-emissions project canceled after US farm states balked
- Rival Summit Agriculture seeks to gain Navigator’s partners
Steam rises from a ethanol biorefinery in Gowrie, Iowa.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A BlackRock Inc.-backed plan to build a pipeline that would capture carbon emissions from the US corn ethanol industry was scrapped in the face of regulatory obstacles and opposition from landowners.
Navigator CO2’s proposal to build more than 1,300 miles (2,092 kilometers) of pipeline across five Midwest states — known as the Heartland Greenway project — had been backed by investors including BlackRock, top ethanol maker Poet LLC and fuel producer Valero Energy Corp. The cancellation raises questions about the viability of similar projects supported by large agriculture and fuel companies.