Bellevue city leaders are considering changing zoning rules to let private companies plug into the region's carbon dioxide pipeline network, a change that could reshape how the city's industrial land is used for years to come. The proposal, now before the Bellevue City Council, would allow private firms to connect to existing CO2 infrastructure running through the area.
According to KETV, POET Biofuels brought the zoning proposal to the city council last month, seeking approval to contract with Tallgrass for carbon capture services tied to ethanol manufacturing. The change would also open the door for other companies to connect to the same infrastructure down the line. Dillon Oakes, speaking for POET Biofuels, said the company plans to continue evaluating a CO2 transfer and unloading facility in Bellevue as it works to link that site to existing regional pipeline infrastructure.
Why Bellevue Is Weighing a Zoning Change
The proposal would change Bellevue's zoning rules for CO2-related facilities. POET brought the proposal to the city council this year.
Industrial Growth Plans Tied to the Decision
Rusty Hike said the zoning change could allow companies to connect to CO2 infrastructure in Bellevue, Sarpy County, or elsewhere in Nebraska, framing the move as part of a larger strategy to grow the city's industrial footprint, KETV reported. Bellevue has about 2,000 acres ready for industrial development, KETV reported.
This isn't Bellevue's first formal engagement with the pipeline project. The Bellevue City Council's November 2025 agenda included a pipeline easement agreement with Trailblazer CO2 Pipeline, LLC, according to records from a Bellevue City Council meeting.
No State Oversight Means Local Control
Nebraska's regulatory landscape helps explain why this zoning vote carries so much weight. The Nebraska Public Service Commission has confirmed it lacks legal authority over carbon dioxide pipelines under state law, leaving siting, zoning, and land-use decisions entirely to municipal and county governments like Bellevue and Sarpy County, according to the Center for Rural Affairs. For CO2 pipelines, state law does not provide a state-level siting approval process, which means local ordinances like the one Bellevue is weighing function as the primary legal venue for controlling this kind of infrastructure.
The pipeline network POET hopes to tap into has a sizable history. Tallgrass Energy converted its 392-mile Trailblazer natural gas pipeline, originally built in 1981, into a $1.5 billion regional CO2 transport network after receiving Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval to shift natural gas shippers to the parallel Rockies Express line, according to RBN Energy. The converted system is designed to transport more than 10 million metric tons of CO2 annually for planned permanent storage at the Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub, an amount equivalent to removing 2 million passenger vehicles from the road, per the World Resources Institute.
Already Moving Carbon Across Nebraska
The Trailblazer network isn't theoretical. Mid America Agri Products/Wheatland in Madrid, Nebraska, became the first ethanol plant to ship captured CO2 on the pipeline in October 2025, followed by ADM's Columbus processing complex in November 2025, according to Ethanol Producer Magazine. POET itself entered into definitive agreements with Tallgrass in February 2025 to connect its Fairmont, Nebraska bioprocessing facility to the same pipeline for carbon sequestration, as reported by DTN Progressive Farmer, a move the company has said lowers the carbon intensity score of its bioethanol products.
Tallgrass has also tried to build in community buy-in along the pipeline's route. The company signed a Community Benefits Agreement with Bold Alliance in April 2024, creating a 10-year shared-value endowment that pays $0.10 per ton of sequestered CO2 annually to landowners and local community foundations, according to the World Resources Institute.
Federal Safety Rules Still Taking Shape
Federal safety questions are playing out on a national stage, too. Current PHMSA regulations have gaps, while the 2020 Satartia, Mississippi, rupture drew public scrutiny.
The Bellevue City Council is scheduled to hold its final vote on the zoning change at 6 p.m. on Oct. 20, according to KETV.
