CARBON CAPTURE

Summit says proceedings could start in March; other parties ask for more time. The pipeline route includes North Dakota, southeast South Dakota, and soutwest and western Minnesota.

Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions says its $4.5 billion pipeline project will help ethanol plants. The project aims to capture greenhouse gas emissions and pipe the CO2 to western North Dakota for underground storage.

Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions says its $4.5 billion pipeline project will help ethanol plants, including the Green Plains Ethanol plant at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, lower their carbon scores. The project aims to capture greenhouse gas emissions and pipe the CO2 to western North Dakota for underground storage.

A group of farmers near Leola, South Dakota, and Aberdeen, South Dakota, say they are ethanol supporters but that the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline will cause them far more than what the company is paying for easements. They also say the lurking threat of eminent domain is inappropriate because the pipeline is not for a public utility. They think the long-term strategy of installing a pipeline to satisfy what may be of environmentally uncertain value is wrong, substituting their loss for likely a temporary gain for ethanol and pipeline investors.

The letter writer wonders what the future will be for future generations.

Landowners and community menmbers in Redwood and Cottonwood counties voiced concerns about proposed Summit Carbon Solutions proposed project at meeting in Lamberton, according to the Clean Up our River Environment organization.

Summit Carbon Solutions discussed its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline project with the Kandiyohi County Board on Tuesday. Approximately 27 miles of the pipeline would go through Kandiyohi County, connecting the Bushmills Ethanol plant near Atwater with the company’s larger pipeline network. There were some concerns raised by the board about the possible environmental and public safety impacts the project could have.

"The easiest way to stop the carbon buildup is to quit burning fossil fuels, move to efficiency, green building and renewables. ... Instead of the common sense approach, there’s an even more crazy idea now, an awfully expensive set of experimental technologies .."

The decision means carbon pipeline companies must file for a siting permit with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Without statewide authority, permitting would have been left up to individual counties along the pipeline route.