Bluestem Prairie last posted about Summit Carbon Solutions' ethanol carbon project in South Dakota Supreme Court ruling complicates Summit Carbon Solution’s push for land and Public can comment on Otter Tail – Wilkin Co section of ethanol carbon pipeline until Sept. 11.
There's more about the federal tax credit profiteer project in the news across Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. Time for a news digest.
I'd mentioned in the Public can comment on Otter Tail – Wilkin Co section of ethanol carbon pipeline until Sept. 11.:
On Tuesday night, I attended the public hearing on FEIS of Otter Tail – Wilkin portion of CO2 Pipeline in Fergus Falls. Most of the people speaking shared concerns about the adequacy of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) released by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
A OAH judge listened to the comments.
I was struck by the civility of the gathering, despite the strong opinions held by those who oppose or support this relatively tiny spur of the Summit Carbon Solutions' ethanol carbon pipeline, as well as by testimony of the local ethanol plant operator that 70 percent of the corn harvest in Otter Tail County goes to feeding the ethanol plant, rather than the world. . . .
At the Minnesota Star Tribune on Wednesday, Walker Orenstein and Christopher Vondracek reported in Minnesota farm country debates what could be the state’s first carbon capture pipeline:
FERGUS FALLS, MINN. – An entirely new kind of pipeline could soon by laid in Minnesota, and that worries Linda Schmidt, who lives along one potential path.
“If this would spring a leak, there is no way I get to safety in three minutes,” Schmidt said last week during a public hearing in this western Minnesota city. “We’ve got our roots really deep here. We can’t pick up and move.”
Schmidt was one of dozens who came to a Fergus Falls event center where skeptics and supporters aired their views about a steel pipeline that would transport carbon dioxide from an ethanol plant across 28 rural miles to the North Dakota border.
That project is a tiny segment of a plan proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, which hopes to build a sprawling and controversial 2,500-mile system for storing carbon that needs approval from five Upper Midwest states.
Summit has faced an erratic path to construction, including a major victory recently in Iowa but also setbacks in South Dakota. Critically, the company faces an uncertain future at its terminus in North Dakota.
The 28-mile Minnesota stretch represents a chance for Summit to claim another win. It will also serve as a test for how Minnesota regulators view the carbon-capture technology. Summit plans to apply later for permission to build a far longer stretch of pipeline in southwestern Minnesota linking six ethanol plants to its system.
In Fergus Falls, some raised concerns about the safety of the project and whether it actually helps the environment. Others sided with Summit, which says a pipeline can help the ethanol industry cash in as states push for lower-carbon transportation fuels. . . .
Summit won’t build its Minnesota pipeline until the company gets permits elsewhere, particularly at the system’s end in North Dakota.
That is not a sure thing. In August, North Dakota denied a siting permit for Summit but agreed to reconsider the move with a decision expected soon. In South Dakota, officials denied an application for the project last year, though Summit plans to reapply soon. In June, Summit notched a win when Iowa regulators approved the pipeline system there.
Summit’s potential use of eminent domain is one reason for fierce opposition among some landowners and some conservative politicians elsewhere. That’s not an issue in Minnesota, since Summit can’t invoke eminent domain under state law, and the company has voluntary easements for 89% of its 28-mile segment, Blank said. . .
(As Bluestem has noted, but the Strib doesn't, the pipeline was a major factor in over a dozen South Dakota incumbent Republicans losing their primaries to pipeline opponents, and the pro-Summit bill itself that passed in the legislature is up for voter review on November's ballot).
. . . Still, Summit has drawn some complaints in years past for its treatment of landowners in southern Minnesota, and the debate in Fergus Falls could be a preview of more to come.
At the hearing, Peg Furshong, a CURE director, said the PUC should have considered both Minnesota pipeline spans, even though Summit has not applied for permits yet for its southern prong. The project there would run past the end of her driveway in rural Redwood County, and many in the audience had driven three hours north from the Lamberton region, Furshong said.
“What happens here in these 28 miles will happen to [residents] in southern Minnesota,” Furshong said.
Read the article at the Strib. Bluestem recommends reading the comments on the piece.
On to Iowa. On Tuesday, Bleeding Heartland's Nancy Bremer reported in Bremer County argues that Summit Carbon easements are noncompliant:
Late on Friday afternoon, August 23, the Iowa Utilities Commission posted a Motion to Declare the Acquisition of Certain Land Interests Noncompliant by the Bremer County Board of Supervisors. The motion was filed into Summit Carbon Solutions docket number 2024-0001 (SCS Carbon Transport LLC; Petition for Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Permit, POET – Fairbank and Shell Rock, IAL-501, IAT-401).
The motion centers on Summit Carbon’s announcement earlier this month that it had purchased land easement agreements from Navigator Heartland Greenway, LLC. According to the motion, “In 2021, Navigator Heartland Greenway (“Navigator”) proposed to route a similar carbon dioxide pipeline along a similar route in Bremer County.”
Navigator subsequently announced that it had canceled its multistate pipeline project in October 2023. An October 20, 2023, Iowa Capital Dispatch article reported that in response to Navigator’s announcement, Summit Carbon stated that it “welcomes and is well-positioned to add additional plants and communities to our project footprint. . . .
Read more at the Bleeding Heartland. Bluestem earlier republished an Iowa Capital Dispatch article about the purchase of the purchased land agreements, More carbon pipeline news: Summit jumpstarts pipeline efforts with purchase of old land easement agreements in Iowa.
Further north, Summit got some good news on Tuesday, North Dakota Monitor's Amy Dalrymple reported in Judge dismisses landowner lawsuit against state, citing procedural issues:
A judge on Tuesday dismissed a landowner group’s lawsuit challenging state laws related to underground carbon dioxide storage, but individual landowners are likely to bring future challenges.
Northeast Judicial District Judge Anthony Swain Benson sided with the state of North Dakota, ruling that claims brought by the Northwest Landowners Association are barred by the statute of limitations.
The landowner group, joined by the North Dakota Farm Bureau and others, argues that the state law approved in 2009 regulating the use of pore space for underground storage is unconstitutional.
The challenge was filed as North Dakota regulators consider permit applications from Summit Carbon Solutions, which seeks to lease pore space — the voids or cavities in underground rock formations — to permanently store CO2 captured from ethanol plants. The lawsuit challenged the process, referred to as amalgamation, used by the North Dakota Industrial Commission related to landowners who do not consent to leasing their pore space.
Benson, who heard arguments in the case in June in Bottineau, ruled that it’s too late to bring a blanket challenge of that state statute. However, individual landowners who believe they are harmed by those statutes could bring future claims. Benson’s ruling does not comment on the viability of challenges that could arise in the future.
“It is unfortunate because this ruling only creates greater uncertainty for both industry and landowners,” Northwest Landowners Association Chairman Troy Coons said in a statement. “The issue will still be resolved by the courts, but the burden will be on individual landowners rather than allowing our organization to stand as their representative.”
Attorney Derrick Braaten, who represented the Northwest Landowners Association, said the group had not decided whether to appeal the decision to the North Dakota Supreme Court.
“Given that there’s no real established law on the issue, and it’s an open issue, there’s a good chance we would appeal,” Braaten said.
Summit Carbon Solutions and other energy companies with CO2 projects in the works intervened in the case in support of North Dakota law.
North Dakota Solicitor General Philip Axt gave members of the North Dakota Industrial Commission a brief summary of the ruling during the board’s Tuesday meeting. Axt told commissioners he anticipated a future challenge but that it was a win for the state “as of now.”
The ruling also dismissed the landowner group’s other claims, including one related to survey access.
Read the court's decision embedded in the article at the Monitor.
The North Dakota Monitor article is republished here online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Map: The spider of proposed ethanol carbom pipelines. Source: Summit Carbon Solutions.
Related posts
- South Dakota Supreme Court ruling complicates Summit Carbon Solution’s push for land
- Public can comment on Otter Tail – Wilkin Co section of ethanol carbon pipeline until Sept. 11
- Summit Carbon Solutions CEO asks for prayer, while MN PUC wants public comment on FEIS of Otter Tail – Wilkin portion of CO2 Pipeline
- More carbon pipeline news: Summit jumpstarts pipeline efforts with purchase of old land easement agreements in Iowa
- IA Rep. Miller-Meeks says carbon pipelines will help Iowa ethanol industry stay competitive
- VIDEO: Carbon capture in Minnesota: public lands, fast money, and pipe dreams
- Summit pipeline segment enters final permitting stages in Minnesota; CURE raises objections
- Referred pipeline law puts Summit Carbon Solution's permit quest in limbo
- Carbon capture news from elsewhere: New Illinois law lays out safety requirements for future carbon sequestration projects
- Broad array of groups object to Summit pipeline permit approval by Iowa Utilities Commission
- Iowa ethanol carbon pipeline opponents poised for Summit Carbon Solutions permit challenges
- Breaking crowded South Dakota ballot news: carbon pipeline law referendum validated
- Sustainable jet fuel company Gevo contributes $167K in defense of carbon pipeline law
- South Dakota Property Rights and Local Control Alliance turns in petitions to SD Secretary of State to force a vote on carbon pipeline policy
- News digest: District 1, the edge of the primary election political earthquake in South Dakota
- South Dakota District 1 GOP House primary news round-up: carbon pipeline politics major issue
- New Midwest battles brew over CO2 pipelines
- Company behind proposed Lake Preston jet fuel plant buoyed by federal carbon credit ruling
- Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: Gevo aviation fuel needs Summit Carbon Solutions and more!
- ND GOP resolution against CCS pipelines decries "false premise of looming climate apocalypse
- Summit Carbon Solutions says ethanol carbon pipeline system won’t be operational until 2026
- Some Iowa landowners were confused by Summit Carbon Solution eminent domain process
- Navigator CO2 pulls its ethanol carbon pipeline permit application in Illinois
- Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: Gevo aviation fuel needs Summit Carbon Solutions and more!
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