A Kansas energy company, Tallgrass Energy, is set to activate its $1.5 billion carbon dioxide pipeline this week, simultaneously launching a pioneering program to share some of its profits with the rural communities along its route.

The company announced on Tuesday that it will soon begin shipping CO2 from the first of 11 ethanol plants in Nebraska and Iowa through the repurposed 392-mile pipeline.

The former natural gas pipeline will transport the carbon dioxide across Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming to a sequestration site. 

As the first of its kind to begin operation, the project is part of a national effort to reduce carbon emissions and make corn-based ethanol more environmentally friendly for new markets, like sustainable aviation fuel.

In conjunction with the launch, Tallgrass announced an initial donation of $500,000 to the new “Trailblazer Community Investment Fund,” managed by the Nebraska Community Foundation. 

The company projects distributing more than $7 million over the next decade to support over 230 community organisations, with funds targeted for local early childhood centres, elder care facilities, and food pantries.

“It’s important to us to strategically invest back into the communities that have supported the project’s development,” said Kyle Quackenbush, Tallgrass segment president.

The investment fund was the result of negotiations with the environmental group Bold Nebraska, a former opponent of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. 

Jane Kleeb, the group’s founder, hailed the agreement as a new blueprint for infrastructure projects, stating that “rural communities deserve to benefit from the projects that impact them.”

Jeff Yost, president and CEO of the Nebraska Community Foundation, also praised the effort.

“I see these guys doing it for the right reasons,” Yost said of the pipeline company’s commitment, which is in addition to lease payments to landowners and spending more than $450,000 on disaster response training for local fire and rescue departments. 

The fund will help address major rural challenges like food insecurity and a lack of quality early childhood education.