On Tuesday, Bluestem published Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: Iowa Utilities Board evidentiary hearing for Summit Carbon Solutions begins in Fort Dodge, a compendium of news coverage about the IUB hearing earlier that day.
In South Dakota on Tuesday night, a debate sponsored by the Dakota Scout was the focus on the ethanol carbon discussion. After reading the article below, Bluestem can't say it agrees with the federal tax credit profiteer or the climate change denying Republican on this one.
At the South Dakota Searchlight, Joshua Haiar reports in During debate with lawmaker, carbon pipeline executive calls eminent domain a ‘last resort’:
BROOKINGS — An executive for a carbon dioxide pipeline company said during a debate Tuesday evening that eminent domain is “a tool of absolute last resort.”
Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, vice president of government and public affairs for Navigator CO2, debated state Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, at the Dacotah Bank Event Center. Hansen is a critic of Navigator’s proposed pipeline and another pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, both of which would capture carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol plants in multiple states and transport the gas in liquid form to be injected underground or sold for industrial use.
Eminent domain is a legal process for gaining access to land when a landowner won’t grant it. Summit is pursuing dozens of eminent domain actions in court for its project, while Navigator has not yet used eminent domain and has said it has voluntary land-access agreements – called “easements” – with about 30% of affected landowners in the state.
When asked if Navigator could guarantee it won’t use eminent domain, Burns-Thompson said that can’t be promised in every circumstance.
Hansen said the initial letters the company sent out threatened eminent domain.
Burns-Thompson did not address that allegation during the debate. She told South Dakota Searchlight later that “we are required to explain how eminent domain works in Iowa in those initial notice letters,” and the company decided those letters should be consistent everywhere, “in the name of transparency.”
Hansen said when eminent domain is hanging overhead, “no matter how you slice it, that’s not a voluntary negotiation, that’s coercion.”
The debate drew a crowd of hundreds — mostly landowners opposed to the project who cheered for Hansen. The debate was organized by The Dakota Scout, the South Dakota Federation of Republican Women, and the Sioux River Republican Women.
Hansen also attacked the motivation for carbon pipeline projects.
“I would describe this project as a boondoggle,” he said, adding that the only reason for the project is federal tax credits. The credits incentivize the removal of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, where it contributes to climate change.
Burns-Thompson countered, reminding the audience that the tax credits have been around since 2008 and were expanded under former President Donald Trump. Congress and President Joe Biden upped the credits last year to $85 per metric ton of carbon sequestered annually, making Navigator’s Heartland Greenway pipeline potentially eligible for up to $1.5 billion in annual credits.
Burns-Thompson described ethanol – which is made from corn to be mixed with gasoline – as more than a fuel. She mentioned its byproducts, including distillers grains, which can be used as livestock feed.
“What’s left?” she asked the crowd. “That CO2.”
Burns-Thompson said by creating a market for ethanol’s carbon byproduct, ethanol will be more successful.
“That’s going to take markets,” she said, referring to states like California, which are demanding cleaner fuels. “That’s going to take infrastructure.”
Hansen, who described himself as a “big fan of ethanol,” said those markets are already shifting to electric vehicles.
“We shouldn’t be appeasing to those people,” Hansen said, criticizing their “leftist climate agenda.”
Burns-Thompson told South Dakota Searchlight that the company accepted the debate invitation because it believes in transparency and open communication.
Navigator has already had a lengthy hearing before the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission and is awaiting a decision on its permit application. The commission will begin a hearing for Summit Carbon Solutions on Sept. 11.
- Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: Iowa Utilities Board evidentiary hearing for Summit Carbon Solutions begins in Fort Dodge
- Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: action picking up on Summit Carbon Solutions
- After North Dakota's pipeline permit application denial, Summit Carbon Solutions asks again
- Iowa administrative judge: Summit should reveal communities threatened by pipeline leaks
- South Dakota PUC expresses concerns as Navigator CO2 carbon pipeline hearing ends
- ND Public Service Commission denies Summit Carbon Solutions permit for ethanol carbon pipeline
- Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest, SD edition
- Thanks to federal tax credits, it’s boom time in the Midwest for carbon dioxide pipelines
- South Dakota Governor Noem is investor in ethanol plant partnered with carbon pipeline firm
- Commentary: Governor Noem’s actions speak louder than words on eminent domain
- New Midwest battles brew over CO2 pipelines
- South Dakota Searchlight: Environmental groups seek Biden moratorium on ethanol CO2 pipelines
- Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowner battles against ethanol CO2 pipelines vary by state
- Ethanol CO2 pipeline news digest: PUC hearings in Minnesota; South Dakota lawsuits; IA setbacks
- CURE files appeal with MN PUC on Summit Carbon pipeline environmental review
- News digest: South Dakota and Minnesota PUCs deal with Summit carbon pipeline issues
- In Iowa, ethanol carbon pipeline opponents want pause until new safety regulations are ready
- Summit Carbon Solutions files permit for risky CO2 pipeline in Otter Tail and Wilkin Counties
- Will ethanol carbon capture pipelines fracture brittle unity of South Dakota Republicans?
- South Dakotans & others get fantods over Summit Carbon Solutions' sketchy 10% owner
- Matt Birk loves the ethanol carbon dioxide pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions
- Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: from the Guardian to the Aberdeen American News
- Navigator CO2, POET sign letter of intent for carbon capture, utilization, and storage service
- Carbon capture pipeline blues: SD landowners call for dismissal of pipeline permit application
- Iowa Capital Dispatch: Group seeks end of ethanol carbon pipeline ‘harassment’
- Ethanol carbon capture pipeline digest: farmers, students, greenwashing, safety, law enforcement
- Storm Lake Time Pilot's Art Cullen: Ripping up CRP is a terrible signal for the planet
- Minnesota Public Utility Commission claims regulatory authority for carbon pipelines
- CO2 pipelines could affect the land, lives and livelihoods of South Dakota property owners
- SD News Watch: Proposed CO2 pipelines thrust SD into billion-dollar climate change debate
- About that permanent carbon storage by the Summit ethanol pipeline & Project Tundra
- Ethanol carbon capture pipeline news digest: political power and big money edition
- Ethanol carbon pipeline digest: trust & protest
- South Dakotans, Iowans don't hug CO2 pipeline
- Keloland: mostly negative public comments to SD Public Utilities Commission on CO2 pipeline
- Strib: Ethanol's per-gallon carbon output shrinks, but greenhouse gas from plants remains high
- We agree: It's time to move on from ethanol
- Another IA newspaper editorial board questions ethanol industry, carbon capture pipelines
- Ethanol CCS pipeline update: Reuters & Agweek
- Not a lot of easements for Midwest carbon pipeline, but plenty of political connections
- 2 ethanol CO2 headlines that make us go hmmm
- CO2 pipelines: who wins & who loses?
- Coming soon from a cornfield near you: mammoth carbon capture pipeline system
- Mother Jones: USDA Secretary Vilsack’s son works for a controversial ethanol pipeline project
- Iowa county boards scorn construction of CO2 pipelines, use of eminent domain to build them
- Digest of news about carbon dioxide pipeline
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