North Dakota proposed site for possible pipeline
Our state is not a newcomer to the world of pipelines. The big oil boom of had its share of pipelines and assorted dramatics that caught national attention.
But this… is no oil pipeline.
This is a carbon dioxide pipeline.
That’s right- ethanol and fertilizer production has the unfortunate result of producing much carbon dioxide as well. And what do they do with it? In the name of going green, how can they lower the enormous emissions from those two occupations?
An Iowa-based private company called Summit Carbon Solutions has a proposal, but very few North Dakotans are pleased about their idea.
Summit’s proposal is to connect over thirty ethanol plants and fertilizer plants via pipeline, and store all of that captured carbon dioxide in North Dakota.
On Summit’s website, they feature Iowa farmers happily discussing the jobs that this project will create and the incredible good it will do corn producers.
What they do not have happy quotes from is North Dakotans living in the region where an enormous amount of carbon dioxide is going to be dumped- or from landowners in places other than Iowa.
On January 12th, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission voted to move an evidentiary hearing from April to September (2023). This is with vast landowner support, but Summit was ‘disappointed’ at the slowup in the permitting process.
They want to jump in and begin construction!
However, very few landowners are excited about having a carbon dioxide pipeline beneath their feet- particularly a landowner in the southeastern part of the state, near Walcott, citing concerns about pipes bursting and the effects it would have on both livestock and humans if it did.
Humans can’t breathe carbon dioxide- in fact, we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. At a low concentration, breathing carbon dioxide will not harm us. However, at high concentrations-like ultra-concentrated CO2 from this pipeline- it would be deadly. The gas is heavier than air and may cause problems in lowlands- like where the concerned rancher lives in North Dakota.
Summit says in response to safety concerns that pipelines are in use today and the public has not seen any health impacts to date- although a big, multi-state collection project like this one has not been attempted and completed successfully before.
Summit Carbon Solutions hopes to begin construction well in advance of January 1, 2025 to take advantage of federal tax credits (in the Inflation Reduction Act)- but hasty construction plans don’t make any landowner feel more secure in breathing their air.
Ultimately, this project faces much in the way of support from big ethanol and fertilizer plants- and resistance from the landowners where the pipeline will be running, additional to the concerns of a big storage facility near Bismarck.
If you feel strongly about the dangers of concentrated carbon dioxide running beneath your feet, now is definitely the time to speak up. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the big industries to steamroll this ‘green’ project into motion- or maybe the landowners will be able to shut it down. Let’s keep our eyes on this project!