Tallgrass and Bold Alliance announce significant progress on Community Benefits Agreement milestones
Signed in March 2024 and endorsed by nearly a dozen statewide agricultural and trade associations, the Community Benefits Agreement outlined commitments along three pillars: public safety, landowner rights, and long-term community investment.
(Kearney, Nebraska) Signed in March 2024 and endorsed by nearly a dozen statewide agricultural and trade associations, the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) outlined commitments along three pillars: public safety, landowner rights, and long-term community investment.
Public Safety: Tallgrass provided over $400,000 to local first responders, which was distributed by the Nebraska State Volunteer Fire Association. The Association conducted a robust, multi-month grant process that provided funds to over 120 first-responder organizations across the state.
Additionally, in 2024, Tallgrass facilitated over 25 CO2 pipeline training events for first responders, engaging the Refinery Terminal Fire Company, the largest nonprofit industrial firefighting group in the U.S., to provide best-in-class instruction.
Landowner Rights: Tallgrass made nearly 200 changes to its project based on community input, negotiated over 1,000 voluntary easement agreements, and acquired 100% of the right of way required to connect the plants coming online this year – representing the potential to decarbonize more than one billion gallons of Nebraskan biofuels – all without a single eminent domain filing.
Additionally, Tallgrass updated its easement agreements to address the pipeline’s eventual decommissioning, providing landowners with the option to safely abandon the asset in place or have it removed. Negotiated in the CBA, and to demonstrate respect to landowners, Tallgrass provided over $100,000 to landowners who granted survey permission but whose property was ultimately not expected to be included in the project.
Long-term Community Investment: Tallgrass and Bold are positioned to launch the community investment fund ahead of schedule, with the initial $500,000 investment expected this year. As outlined in the agreement, additional annual contributions over the next decade will amount to $0.10 per ton of CO2 transported on the system.
“Ethanol is a critical energy source in our state, and we are leading the country in providing America an alternative to traditional fossil fuel energy. The community benefit agreement means not only is the ethanol industry benefiting, but the community is putting more money in their pockets, and the first responders are prepared for any emergencies that may arise with the new carbon pipelines. Bold remains committed to protecting property rights and ensuring when projects are built that, the community benefits and landowners’ rights are protected in writing, not just words. We thank Tallgrass for continuing to honor the community benefit and dividend agreement, and we hope more corporations follow their lead,” noted Jane Kleeb of BOLD Alliance.
Kyle Quackenbush of Tallgrass added, “We’re proud that our work not only supports the Midwest biofuels industry but drives value across the entire supply chain – from the tens of thousands of family farms that grow the feedstocks that supply these facilities to the
livestock and pork producers who rely on ethanol coproducts to enhance their operations.”
About Tallgrass
Tallgrass is a leading infrastructure company focused on safely, reliably, and sustainably delivering the energy and services that power our nation and enable our quality of life. For over a decade, Tallgrass has called Nebraska “home,” and today, our 100+ Nebraskan employees operate more than 2,000 miles of pipelines across the state. More broadly, Tallgrass operates more than 10,000 miles of multicommodity infrastructure and large-scale assets that stretch from Ohio to Oregon and North Dakota down to South Texas. Learn more at Tallgrass.com.
About Bold Alliance
Bold Alliance builds unlikely alliances to protect the land and water. Bold works on issues including eminent domain, clean energy, water, and prioritizing family farms and ranches.
Tallgrass Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Disclosures in this news release contain "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that management expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, forward-looking statements contained in this news release specifically include the timing of the launch of the community investment fund, including the initial $500,000 investment expected this year. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Tallgrass, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements, and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, including those set forth in reports and financial statements made available by Tallgrass. Any forward-looking statement applies only as of the date on which such statement is made, and Tallgrass does not intend to correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.