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DES MOINES — For the first time in two years, the three-person state panel that regulates Iowa’s public utilities held a general, public meeting — and Iowa landowners who are opposed to a hazardous liquid pipeline and have been critical of the panel’s approval of the project did not miss the opportunity.

Nineteen landowners spoke during the public comment period of Wednesday’s meeting of the Iowa Utilities Commission and even more attended the meeting.

The panel’s last public, monthly meeting was August of 2023, almost exactly two years ago, according to the commission’s calendar.

“This is a moment that literally is years in the making,” Sioux County farmer Megan Sloma told the panel when sh

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