May 12, 2026 · 27 min · 24 segments
As his American company Summit Carbon Solutions struggles with backlash to a carbon capture pipeline linking corn ethanol plants across the Midwest, Bruce Rastetter is not slowing down. Instead, he’s…
Amy WesterveltHostFelipe Sabrina
[upbeat music] In early September 2025, a handful of Brazilian government officials headed to North Dakota on a mission.
When you turn corn into ethanol, it generates carbon dioxide, and that's a problem if you're trying to be a green fuel.
But now, people from Iowa to North Dakota were capturing that carbon dioxide, storing it, and selling it.
Never mind that they were selling it to people who would inject it underground to get more oil out.
Some of it would surely still stay underground, and if you tilted your head and squinted a bit, that made it a climate solution.
The American company selling the Brazilians on this idea had a lot riding on these officials believing that carbon capture connected to ethanol was a great green success story.
Win-win for industry and the environment, an American dream they could take home to Brazil.
But had the visiting bureaucrats scanned the local newspapers, they might have found a different story.
If you live in Iowa, your land, your water, and your voice could all be at risk thanks to a man named Bruce Rastetter.
Uh, you know, essentially paying him to capture CO2 at ethanol plants, and then shipping it across private land and public land, and then disposing of it somewhere many states away.
Summit has been trying for years to build a carbon capture pipeline to connect dozens of ethanol plants from Iowa to North Dakota.
[train horn blows] Harold Hamm, who controls many of North Dakota's oil fields and is an energy advisor to President Trump, is a major investor in the company.
He's also founder and executive chairman of its parent company, Summit Agricultural Group.
For all their cheerleading of the project to visitors, the Summit pipeline is years behind schedule and facing multiple political and legal roadblocks.
In fact, it's managed to do what almost no politician, issue, or campaign has been able to do in the US for years, united far left and far right populace.
[upbeat music] For Rastetter, it's not the first time he's faced opposition, especially in his home state of Iowa.
[upbeat music] In early September 2025, a handful of Brazilian government officials headed to North Dakota on a mission.
When you turn corn into ethanol, it generates carbon dioxide, and that's a problem if you're trying to be a green fuel.
But now, people from Iowa to North Dakota were capturing that carbon dioxide, storing it, and selling it.
Never mind that they were selling it to people who would inject it underground to get more oil out.
Some of it would surely still stay underground, and if you tilted your head and squinted a bit, that made it a climate solution.
The American company selling the Brazilians on this idea had a lot riding on these officials believing that carbon capture connected to ethanol was a great green success story.
Win-win for industry and the environment, an American dream they could take home to Brazil.
But had the visiting bureaucrats scanned the local newspapers, they might have found a different story.
If you live in Iowa, your land, your water, and your voice could all be at risk thanks to a man named Bruce Rastetter.
Uh, you know, essentially paying him to capture CO2 at ethanol plants, and then shipping it across private land and public land, and then disposing of it somewhere many states away.
Summit has been trying for years to build a carbon capture pipeline to connect dozens of ethanol plants from Iowa to North Dakota.
[train horn blows] Harold Hamm, who controls many of North Dakota's oil fields and is an energy advisor to President Trump, is a major investor in the company.
He's also founder and executive chairman of its parent company, Summit Agricultural Group.
For all their cheerleading of the project to visitors, the Summit pipeline is years behind schedule and facing multiple political and legal roadblocks.
In fact, it's managed to do what almost no politician, issue, or campaign has been able to do in the US for years, united far left and far right populace.
[upbeat music] For Rastetter, it's not the first time he's faced opposition, especially in his home state of Iowa.
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3 of 5
Consultant Lays Down Terms
Before we dive in, Cory levels expectations.
Genesis Of The Brazil Play
Here’s how the first calls started.
Connecting Summit And The Franzes
The key handshake that changed everything.
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