Carelle Jean Mueller Stein is an attorney in Fort Madison, Iowa. That background gives her a unique advantage among landowners throughout the Great Plains who are facing intimidation tactics and eminent domain threats from carbon capture pipeline companies. These for-profit companies are using billions of taxpayer dollars in federal subsidies to pipe carbon dioxide captured at ethanol plants throughout the Corn Belt, transporting it thousands of miles away to underground storage or depleted oil and gas wells to extract more of those natural resources.
As fourth-generation farmers in Lee County, Iowa, Carelle and her husband are at what she calls “ground zero.” Three different pipeline companies propose crossing through that jurisdiction. She says many of her neighbors are falsely led to believe they have no options, but thanks to her background in law, she knows differently. She met with The New American senior editor Rebecca Terrell to discuss what landowners can do to stand up for their God-given right to own and secure private property.
