Drawing the Line — Colorado farm family fights carbon pipeline
Rachel Gabel | rgabel@thefencpost.com | October 23, 2026
The Humes, Kari and Brady, bought their homestead near Peetz, Colo. She admits it’s not as expansive as some of the neighboring farm and ranch operations, but their intention when they purchased it was to build it and their fabrication company. They had paid off the note, and were ready to begin expanding to raise cattle. The quiet days and nights the Humes enjoyed carried a certain ambience. That peace has been interrupted by the Logan Compressor Station.
Built in 2024, following no stakeholder comment period the Humes were aware of, the compressor sits over the bidirectional natural gas transport line just 951 feet from the Hume’s front door. The site underwent a zoning change prior to the construction of the station and Kari said it lacked a local building permit and without the type of public notice a project of this size would typically require.
The resulting ambiance is near-constant noise, low-frequency vibration that can be felt outdoors and in their home and fabrication shop, and the occasional and intermittent sulfur-like and chemical odors. After the Humes attempted to quietly resolve the dispute between them and Tallgrass Energy with no results, the couple filed suit in Logan County District Court and Kari has become an advocate for her family and private property rights and for holding large companies accountable.
On Oct. 6, the Logan County Commissioners imposed a temporary six-month moratorium on the issuance of permits related to the development and operation of carbon sequestration facilities in the county, including but not limited to well fields, pipeline, whether new or pre-existing and proposed for conversion to carbon dioxide transport, and other associated equipment and structures.
The original compressor station across the road from their home was built for natural gas and, in testimony before the Logan County commissioners, Brady Hume said it was about the size of a Tuff Shed. In 2024, a new and substantially larger compressor station was built on the Rockies Express natural gas pipeline as part of a project that also involved repurposing the adjacent Trailblazer Pipeline to transport carbon dioxide. The Logan Compressor Station is 951 feet from the Humes’ home.
“We could feel it in our bedroom at night,” Hume told the commissioners.
In January 2024, Logan County approved a 2.07-acre subdivision exemption for “the expansion of an existing natural gas compressor station.” From April through September an entire new compressor station was built, next to the old Trailblazer Pipeline compressor, which hasn’t operated since 2018.
REPURPOSED
There is a 1981 right of way allowing the Trailblazer Pipeline, which runs beneath their property for the purpose of carrying natural gas. The Humes said when it was converted to carry carbon dioxide as part of a broader project, it was done outside of the authorization of the original document and without their knowledge.
“Our easement allowed for transportation of gas only,” Brady told the commissioners. “The adjoining section to the east of us they actually condemned land when they built that pipeline using the Natural Gas Act. It was a natural gas pipeline that was what it was built for and what it was suitable for and as far as we’re concerned, they have no right to run any substance other than natural gas through it.”
At the Oct. 6 meeting, Greg Neinhuser spoke in favor of the moratorium, asking the board to impose a lo
nger pause on CO2 pipelines in case Tallgrass Energy or other companies attempt to add CO2 pipelines. Peetz Town Manager Ron Gentry also applauded the commissioner’s efforts to learn more about carbon sequestration and urged them to then take further action.
Neinhuser also told the board that Trailblazer Pipeline signed a new easement with some nearby landowners to add CO2 rights in January of 2022, but there was no such agreement with the Humes.
Kari said Trailblazer Pipeline, in partnership with BOLD Nebraska, offered landowners with Trailblazer a “community benefits agreement” which was supposed to give them $0.10 per metric ton compensation annually (Trailblazer gets $85/ metric ton of taxpayer funded 45Q tax credits).
“It also was supposed to establish emergency management funds for resources and training,” she said. “So, they didn’t try to get people to sign a new easement unless they had Natural Gas Act condemned land from 1982-83. That condemnation decree required the transportation of natural gas only so they sought new easements from them to expand the rights to include carbon dioxide.”
Hume said in January of 2022 a neighbor signed a new easement prior to Trailblazer applying to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, or providing an opportunity for the County to be aware of the conversion.
According to Neinhuser, several landowners and representatives of landowners refused to sign a request from Tallgrass to repurpose the pipeline to carry CO2 “and that was still approved by the county commissioners without consultation of those landowners. To be very candid it’s a dangerous substance to be coming through any type of pipeline.”
Commissioner Jim Yahn said he’s unsure whether the county was even aware of the change from natural gas to CO2. According to the lawsuit filed against Tallgrass by the Humes, the company has been transporting CO2 across their land without an agreement since at least September 2025.
Since then, the Humes contacted Tallgrass about the sulfur-type smell and the company indicated it may be the Hume’s own propane tanks leaking. Upon testing, that was not the case. When the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment consulted with the Humes, they advised the couple and their seven young children stay inside if odors are present. This, Kari said, is particularly challenging and frustrating. In addition, Brady’s fabrication business routinely utilizes open-flame tools without warnings of hydrocarbon releases or blow downs from the station. The decades-old pipeline, they said, was not built to carry CO2, a substance that is more corrosive and potentially toxic.
“We can’t imagine trying to move a business, a farm, seven children, and yet we don’t want to be anywhere near it based on everything we’ve learned and experienced,” Kari said.
LAWSUIT FILED
The Humes met privately with Tallgrass for 22 months to attempt to resolve the problems before they filed a lawsuit to be made whole and to make relocation possible.
“Do we buy this monitor that will scream if there is this particular gas present? Or do we pay this lawyer bill?” Kari said.
The Humes sold a second property and cashed in their kids’ college accounts to fight Tallgrass. They even purchased an old motor home in case they have to evacuate their home.
She said they were committed to working cooperatively with Tallgrass because they were told the company wanted to be a good neighbor.
“The people around here that work for these companies from the best I can tell are great people,” she said. “So it’s, it’s when you get at the corporate level and decisions are, are very much strategic or financial. And I’ve worked for corporations, so I understand that. But I am appalled by how we are expected to sit in the blast zone and wait.”
Through all of this, she said she is acutely aware of the private property rights aspect of the fight.
“First do no harm to your neighbor, right?” she said. “Love thy neighbor is known as the second greatest commandment. Well, if that’s the case, I think we do need to consider that.”
Tallgrass Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs Steven Davidson declined to comment on the pending lawsuit but, in a statement previously provided to News Channel Nebraska, defended the company’s safety practices. “The safety of our employees, landowners and the communities where we operate is our highest priority, and the safety record and operating data associated with CO2 pipeline infrastructure demonstrate that these systems can be operated safely and reliably,” he said.
He added that the system is monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by highly trained technicians.
To the best of the Hume’s knowledge, the Peetz Volunteer Fire Department, nor the Logan County Office of Emergency Management has received equipment or training for this unique, asphyxiating substance transported by pipeline through northern Logan County.
SOURCE: theFencePost, October 23, 2026
