Summit modifies North Dakota pipeline route to avoid potential landslides

BISMARCK — Changes made by Summit Carbon Solutions to its pipeline route in North Dakota include avoiding areas where landslides are likely to occur.

It also has moved farther east of Bismarck and some Bismarck intervenors have withdrawn from the case.

North Dakota is one of the few states to have possible landslide areas mapped, according to State Geologist Ed Murphy.

Those maps are used when siting several different types of infrastructure, such as wind turbines, roads and pipelines.

The state Geological Survey had identified 17 areas of soil instability on or near the hazardous liquid pipeline route originally submitted by Summit.

Murphy submitted a letter dated March 7 that says Summit has addressed those concerns, including rerouting the pipeline around some landslide areas.

“They’ve moved the pipeline, specifically to get away from some of those areas, and then they move the pipeline for other reasons,” Murphy said in an interview.

The letter was filed with the North Dakota Public Service Commission, which will decide whether to grant Summit a permit for its 335-mile route through North Dakota.

The pipeline would capture carbon emissions from ethanol plants in five states, including Tharaldson Ethanol near Casselton, to underground carbon storage sites in Mercer and Oliver counties.

A map of North Dakota’s landslide areas shows that they are mostly in western North Dakota, but there are also unstable areas along rivers, including the Sheyenne River. A branch of the pipeline from Casselton will cross the Sheyenne River connecting to another branch from Green Plains Renewable Energy ethanol plant in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

Those branches will connect to the main trunk of the pipeline that runs through south-central North Dakota.

A landslide contributed to an oil pipeline spill in North Dakota in 2016 and shifting soil caused a carbon pipeline rupture in Mississippi in 2020, a case that many carbon pipeline opponents point to as an example of their safety hazards.

The North Dakota pipeline spill in Billings County caused crude oil to contaminate Ash Coulee Creek, according to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

The federal investigation was finally closed in February, with a PHMSA letter to the Belle Fourche Pipeline Co. that the agency was satisfied with the corrective measures that were taken. Dustin Hubbard of PHMSA confirmed for the North Dakota Monitor that a landslide caused the leak.

In Satartia, Mississippi, a PHMSA report blamed heavy rain and a landslide for the rupture of a CO2 pipeline.

The PHMSA standard for injuries as a result of a pipeline leak is for a person to be hospitalized.

While there were no overnight hospitalizations, dozens of people were treated, according to a PHMSA report.

In a North Dakota Public Service Commission hearing on Summit’s permit application in 2023, Gerald Briggs, a first responder from Mississippi, reported finding three people unconscious with foam around their mouths after the carbon dioxide leak.

Pipeline advocates maintain that they are the safest way to transport liquids and gases.

The Liquid Energy Pipeline Association, citing PHMSA data, says that 99.999% of crude oil and petroleum products delivered by pipeline reach their destination safely. In addition, it says CO2 pipelines have a lower incident rate than pipelines for both crude oil and refined energy products.

Summit calls its Midwest Carbon Express pipeline project the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project. It recently grew to more than 50 ethanol plants in five states. There is one ethanol plant in North Dakota, Tharaldson Ethanol at Casselton.

Summit made changes to its route as it tries again to obtain a pipeline route permit from the North Dakota Public Service Commission.

The PSC denied Summit’s permit application last year but is giving the Iowa-based company another chance to make its case.

A March 4 letter to the PSC from Bismarck attorney Lawrence Bender, who represents Summit, notified the commission of landowners that no longer have the Summit route through their property.”

The list includes the John H. Warford Jr. Revocable Trust in Burleigh County. John Warford, a former Bismarck mayor, had been outspoken about his opposition to the pipeline.

The same day that Bender submitted his letter to the PSC, Bismarck attorney Randy Bakke filed a letter with the PSC stating that the Bismarck intervenors, which included Warford, Chad Wachter and Chad Moldenhauer, were withdrawing from the Summit case.

Warford did not want to comment on the withdrawal from the proceedings. Bakke could not be reached for comment.

Brian Jorde is an attorney with Domina Law of Nebraska that represents landowners along the pipeline route in multiple states. He said he still has North Dakota clients opposed to the Summit route and expects to hear from others.

“When you’re heating up and there’s a scheduling order for the hearings, we tend to hear from people,” he said.

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com