(Pierre, SD via the South Dakota Searchlight & Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Summit Carbon Solutions wants the schedule of proceedings for its South Dakota permit application “paused for review and adjustment” after the state’s Legislature and governor approved a ban on the use of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines. Eminent domain is a legal process for acquiring access to land for projects that have a public benefit, with compensation for landowners determined by a court. It’s commonly used for projects such as electrical power lines, water pipelines, oil pipelines and highways.

The company filed a motion Wednesday with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission asking for a suspension of the scheduling order and an indefinite extension of the deadline for regulatory action on the application. The existing schedule includes a multi-day evidentiary hearing in August and September. Summit cited House Bill 1052, signed last week by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden, as a significant obstacle to completing land surveys along the pipeline’s planned route.

In a written statement, Summit’s attorney Brett Koenecke said “With the passage of HB 1052, the Applicant’s ability to obtain survey permission has changed. The surveys which are necessarily required to inform the route decisions as to right of way will be significantly delayed.”

An event in Pierre, SD, on Jan. 13, 2025, highlighting opposition to a carbon dioxide pipeline. (Photo by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

South Dakota’s ban has been hailed as a victory by some landowners who have resisted Iowa-based Summit’s proposed $9 billion carbon capture pipeline. The project would transport carbon dioxide emissions from dozens of ethanol plants in five states, including Iowa, to an underground storage site in North Dakota. It would qualify for billions in federal tax credits incentivizing the sequestration of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.

The project has permits in other states, although some are being challenged in court. South Dakota regulators rejected Summit’s first application in 2023, largely due to the route’s conflicts with local ordinances that mandate minimum distances between pipelines and existing features. The company has since made adjustments to its route and reapplied.

The company is not the first to encounter trouble earning a permit for a carbon capture pipeline in South Dakota. Navigator CO2 canceled its $3 billion project in October 2023, citing the “unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes involved, particularly in South Dakota and Iowa.” South Dakota regulators had denied Navigator’s permit application a month earlier.

Iowa and North Dakota regulators have granted permits to the Summit project. Iowa’s permit stipulates that construction may not begin until the project gains permits in both North and South Dakota.