LINCOLN — A Kansas pipeline company is about to activate its $1.5 billion pipeline to transport carbon dioxide from ethanol plants in Nebraska and Iowa to a sequestration site in Wyoming and, along with it, launch a first-of-its-kind program to share some proceeds with rural communities along the pipeline route.

On Tuesday, officials with Tallgrass Energy said they would soon be shipping CO2 from the first of 11 ethanol plants connected to its pipeline — a converted, former natural gas pipeline — for a 392-mile trip across Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa and Wyoming.

In conjunction with the launch, Tallgrass announced it is making an initial donation of $500,000 to a fund managed by the Nebraska Community Foundation that could financially help more than 230 communities and community organizatio

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