by Audrey Streb
The Daily Caller
Republican South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden signed a bill Thursday banning the use of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines, ensuring land protections for farmers across the state.
The bill, HB 1052, prohibits the government seizure of land for C02 pipelines. This leaves the fate of Summit Carbon Solutions’ $9 billion, 2,500-mile pipeline project potentially hanging in the air, as South Dakota was a key player in the plan. Summit’s pipeline was to transport captured C02 from five Midwest states to an underground storage spot in South Dakota, which has been referred to as the world’s largest carbon capture project.
“South Dakota landowners feel strongly that the threat of involuntary easements for the proposed carbon dioxide pipeline infringes on their freedoms and their property rights,” Rhoden wrote in a letter to the legislature and to the people of South Dakota. “I have said many times that Summit needs to earn back trust from South Dakota landowners. Unfortunately, once trust is lost, it is a difficult thing to regain.”…
“This is definitely a win for the little guy,” Steve Milloy, a Senior Legal Fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, told the DCNF.
“Carbon capture is economically, politically and physically impossible.” He said, referring to carbon capture as “totally bogus” and that “the only reason it’s happening is because oil companies can get taxpayer subsidies for it.”
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