Apparently, commissioners n Stanton County, Nebraska, weren't impressed by Summit Carbon Solutions' plan for an ethanol carbon pipeline in their neighborhood.
From the Nebraska Examiner:
Northeast Nebraska county delivers blow to plans for carbon pipeline
By Paul HammelStanton County denial would require Summit Carbon Solutions to reapply for conditional use permit
LINCOLN — A rural Nebraska county delivered a blow Tuesday to plans by an Iowa corporation to build a pipeline carrying carbon dioxide across the state.
On a 3-0 vote, the Stanton County Board denied a conditional use permit for Summit Carbon Solutions, which is seeking to build a CO2 pipeline from more than 50 ethanol plants in the Midwest to a sequestration site in North Dakota.
Stanton County Clerk Wanda Heermann said commissioners stated that they needed more information about the health risks and possible foreign ownership of the company and that they wanted to see more public education and consideration of alternative routes.
Summit, Heermann said, would have to reapply for a conditional use permit if it wants to cross the northeast Nebraska county.
No one testified for the project
One Stanton County landowner who opposes the project noted that not one landowner testified in favor of the pipeline prior to the county board’s vote Tuesday.
“I want it to be advertised that counties, or at least one, as of now was presented with this decision and denied it — unanimously denied,” said Justin Kennedy, a member of an opposition group, the Nebraska Easement Action Team. It is a wing of the Bold Alliance, which led the opposition to the crude-oil Keystone XL pipeline.
A Summit spokeswoman said the company “respects the decision of the Stanton County Commissioners and will address their feedback.”
“More than 90% of the landowners in Stanton County have signed voluntary easement agreements, demonstrating broad understanding and support of the project,” said spokeswoman Sabrina Ahmed Zenor.
Dakota County delays vote
Also Tuesday, the Dakota County Planning and Zoning Commission tabled until April a decision on whether to recommend approval of a county conditional use permit for Summit. Commissioners said they needed more information, according to Joe O’Neill, the county’s zoning administrator.
Last fall, Summit Carbon Solutions announced it was postponing its project until 2026 because of opposition to the $5.5 billion, 2,000-mile CO2 pipeline. It is the largest carbon pipeline being proposed in the region and would pass through Iowa, North and South Dakota and Minnesota, as well as Nebraska.
Proponents of corn-based ethanol have touted the plan to capture and sequester CO2 produced by ethanol plants as a way to make the fuel more environmentally friendly and ensure a market for the fuel into the future. Billions in federal funds have been set aside to help capture the greenhouse gases.
Pipeline rupture in 2020
Opponents have questioned the safety of the high-pressure, liquid pipeline, pointing to a pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi, in 2020 that caused an evacuation and sent several people to the hospital. Questions have also been raised about whether the technology of sequestering carbon in deep underground formations is sound.
Opposition has been especially strong in Iowa and South Dakota.
In a press release, Bold Alliance said one of the Stanton County commissioners, Doug Huttman, asked Summit at Tuesday’s meeting for a model of how CO2 would disperse and flow in the event of a rupture.
Nebraska has no state regulations concerning carbon pipelines, but counties that have zoning ordinances require companies to obtain conditional use permits to build in that county.
This Nebraska Examiner article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Map: Summit Carbon Solutions plans to build a 2,000-mile network of CO2 pipelines across the Midwest to capture carbon produced by ethanol plants and then sequester it underground in North Dakota. (Courtesy of Summit Carbon Solutions/ Nebraska Examiner).
Related posts
- Another attempt to block ethanol carbon pipelines from using eminent domain fails
- Commentary: Oil pipeline experience proves need for caution with carbon pipelines
- Navigator CO2 Ventures survivor Poet shifts to remaining carbon dioxide pipeline proposal
- Burying the lede: EIS points out improved farming methods & ethanol plants would reduce as much carbon as ethanol carbon pipelines
- MInnesota Department of Commerce releases draft EIS for Otter Tail to Wilkin Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Project; public meetings coming up in Breckenridge & Fergus Falls
- Hundreds of CO2 pipeline critics converged on South Dakota Capitol ahead of legislative session
- CCS squabble: CO2 pipeline debate has resulted in divisions among SD ethanol proponents
- Keystone I pipeline leaks again; after 2017 South Dakota & 2019 North Dakota, Kansas is hit
- Keystone I pipeline leaks again--this time in ND
- TransCanada's state-of-art pipeline bums out SD utilities comish after 3 leaks in under 10 years
- Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate concerned about Keystone I Pipeline oil spill in NE South Dakota
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments