Summit Carbon Solutions asks North Dakota to reconsider pipeline route denial, seeks new path around Bismarck

BISMARCK, N.D. — After having its carbon pipeline route permit rejected by North Dakota regulators, Summit Carbon Solutions is asking them to reconsider.

Included in Summit’s

Petition for Reconsideration

is an alternate route around Bismarck, farther east and north of the city.

The

Public Service Commission on Aug. 4 denied Summit’s application

for a route through the state, the last leg of a 2,000 mile, five-state pipeline project to capture greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol plants.

The PSC had asked for an analysis of a route south of Bismarck to get an underground storage site west of Bismarck.

In its petition, Summit is asking the PSC for a one-day rehearing “for the limited purpose of presenting witness testimony in support of this petition.”

In a news release, Summit say its petition also addresses these issues:

•  Avoidance areas: Summit has rerouted or planned drills to avoid areas of concern, including game management areas and areas that may present a geological risk, such as a landslide.
• Cultural resource surveys: Summit is working with the State Historic Preservation Office to document the results of cultural surveys and is confident no historic or archeological sites will be affected by the project. Summit says it has completed cultural surveys on approximately 90% of the pipeline route. 

Summit says the project will benefit the ethanol plants and corn growers, but some landowners have been resistant to provide a voluntary easement for the project.
Summit says nearly 80% of the right-of-way for the pipeline route has been secured through voluntary easements from landowners, including parts of the new pipeline route.

“Addressing the concerns of the ND PSC is a top priority for us, and we’ve worked diligently to revise our application accordingly,” Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Lee Blank said in a news release. “Our aim is to work collaboratively, listen to everyone’s input, and align our project with the long-term vision that North Dakota has for its energy and agricultural sectors. We are confident that our efforts will contribute positively to North Dakota’s future, and we’re excited to be part of this journey.”

Summit’s pipeline would connect ethanol plants in five states — Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and one in North Dakota, the Tharaldson Ethanol plant at Casselton.

Summit will begin a permit hearing in Iowa on Aug. 22, and in South Dakota later this year. It has begun the permit process on part of its route in Minnesota. There is no state agency with permitting authority in Nebraska.

An opposition group in Minnesota, CURE (Clean Up the River Environment) has

formally petitioned

the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to halt its review of the Summit CO2 pipeline in Otter Tail and Wilkin counties. That section would connect the Green Plains ethanol plant at Fergus Falls to a branch of the pipeline in North Dakota.

“North Dakota’s denial sends a clear message to the other states’ regulators reviewing this project — it is not ready for prime time and poses significant threats to the environment and human health that cannot be mitigated,” Sarah Mooradian, CURE’s government relations and policy director, said in a news release. “Continuing the permitting process here in Minnesota for Summit’s half-baked plan would be illogical and irresponsible.”

Reach Agweek reporter Jeff Beach at jbeach@agweek.com or call 701-451-5651.