SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A new law in South Dakota prohibiting the use of eminent domain to acquire land for carbon capture pipelines raises questions about the viability of a proposed 2,500 mile (4,023-kilometer) project snaking through five Midwest states.

Summit Carbon Solutions, the company behind the estimated $8.9 billion pipeline, vowed to keep pursuing the project despite South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden’s announcement Thursday that he had signed a bill into law that will make routing the line much more difficult. The law bans Summit from forcing South Dakota landowners to allow the pipeline through their property.

Plans call for the pipeline to carry greenhouse gas emissions from more than 50 ethanol plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota to a spot in North Dakota, where it would be permanently stored underground.

Legal action is possible

It’s unclear whether Summit will pursue legal action but the company said in a statement that “all options are on the table” and the project “moves forward” in other states. The company promised it would have more news soon.

Large pipeline projects typically rely on eminent domain, with companies arguing that even if most landowners agree to grant access to their property, a project can be scuttled if only a few refuse.

Summit says the company, which has secured over 2,700 easements across the region, has approval for routes in Iowa and North Dakota and a leg in Minnesota.

Can the line be routed through Minnesota?

The current proposed route would cut through nearly 700 miles (1,126.5 kilometers) of South Dakota before entering North Dakota, so rerouting to the east through Minnesota would be a big challenge.

A Summit spokesperson did not respond to questions Friday about whether the company would consider a new route.

The sponsor of the South Dakota bill, Republican Rep. Karla Lems, said Summit could either reroute its pipeline through Minnesota into North Dakota or “negotiate with landowners in South Dakota” and go around opponents.

Gov. Rhoden said the South Dakota law wasn’t intended to kill the project and suggested Summit see it as “an opportunity to reset.”

Minnesota is a relatively small part of Summit’s overall project. The only segment approved in the state is a 28-mile (45-kilometer) leg from an ethanol plant near Fergus Falls to the North Dakota border. Summit’s project also includes two legs in southern Minnesota that would go into Iowa.

A Minnesota Public Utilities Commission spokesperson did not respond to phone or email messages.

The pipeline’s importance to the ethanol industry

The country’s transition to electric vehicles has been slower than many people expected, but most think a shift away from internal combustion engines will eventually happen.

Nearly 40% of the nation’s corn crop is brewed into ethanol, which is blended into most gasoline sold in the U.S. Midwest farmers and the ethanol industry therefore see it as essential to have new markets as less of the fuel additive goes to power cars.

They see passenger jet fuel as a potentially huge new market for ethanol. However, under current rules the process for turning ethanol into aviation fuel would need to emit less carbon dioxide to qualify for tax breaks intended to reduce greenhouses.

The carbon capture pipeline is a key part of achieving those goals, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said.

Walt Wendland, who runs an ethanol plant in Onida, South Dakota, said the “ethanol industry is a margin business” and the new state law will put South Dakota ethanol producers at a disadvantage.

“Ever since I built a plant, I never wanted an advantage, just don’t put me at a disadvantage,” Wendland said.

Will the pipeline ever be built?

It has been four years since Summit proposed building the pipeline, along with two other companies that later abandoned their plans. It has been a challenging process for Summit, which dealt with lawsuits in Nebraska and elsewhere, opposition before a regulatory commission in Iowa and now the eminent domain ban in South Dakota.

In its statement, Summit expressed optimism about the future but didn’t offer specifics about how it could build a pipeline without eminent domain authority in South Dakota.

Since the pipeline was proposed, the federal government’s approach to climate change also has changed dramatically. Democratic President Joe Biden increased tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to encourage carbon capture as an effort to slow climate change.

However, Republican President Donald Trump has emphasized the need for more oil and gas drilling and coal mining, and has put far less emphasis on alternative energy. Trump has not indicated whether his views will lead to changing federal policy regarding carbon capture pipelines.

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Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.

SIOUX FALLS — “Honestly, they’re huge. The other team is just ginormous.”

In those simple, succinct words from North Dakota’s Kiera Pemberton summarizes what every other team in the Summit League is up against when the South Dakota State University women’s basketball team hits the court.

SDSU was bigger and better than the Fighting Hawks in every way on Saturday in the Summit League tournament semifinals, as SDSU pulled away for an 84-55 win at the Premier Center. The Jackrabbits advance to the Summit League title game at 3 p.m. Sunday against either No. 2 Oral Roberts or No. 6 Kansas City, playing for a third consecutive tournament title and fourth NCAA bid in the last five seasons.

The Jacks, now 28-3 on the season, dominated in the stats under the basket. SDSU had a 42-12 edge in points in the paint and a 22-4 margin in second-chance scoring. They outrebounded UND 54-26, including pulling down 18 offensive rebounds and for much of the game, they had as many offensive rebounds as UND had defensive rebounds, illustrating that it was a 50/50 proposition for who would grab a rebound every time the Jacks’ missed a shot.

And SDSU didn’t have too many issues on offense anyway. Brooklyn Meyer was a force at the forward spot with 22 points and 10 rebounds on 9-for-15 shooting, while Mesa Byom had 11 points and six rebounds. The Jacks also have 6-foot-1 Kallie Thiesen that they can get in the mix, and SDSU coach Aaron Johnston said they’ve started playing Meyer and Thiesen together more to go with the typical Byom and Meyer starting pair.

That attention Meyer gets frees up everyone else. Haleigh Timmer had 14 points and 10 rebounds from a guard spot and point guard Paige Meyer was terrific in her penultimate Summit League tournament game as a senior, scoring 17 points.

“I think that’s really important for us, and it’s a big part of our identity as a team, rebounding and being big down low,” Byom said. “I think that kind of gets us going, and then when we’re not getting shots from outside, that’s just our steady, and we did really good with that today.”

Counting Saturday, the trio of Byom, Thiesen and Brooklyn Meyer have played 368 games for the Jackrabbits in their career, with 13 seasons of combined experience. And Johnston pointed out they all play well off each other as a “really talented rotation.”

“Part of why they’re able to play the way they do is they can defend not only inside, but we switch a lot of screens,” Johnston said. “So they’re out on the perimeter chasing guards around and playing defense, you know, sideline to sideline, and that’s hard. A lot of coaches don’t do that, but that group is really talented.”

UND coach Mallory Bernhard said after the game that they had three different ways to play Brooklyn Meyer defensively, trying to front her in the post, play behind her on the block and also not guarding others to put more attention on the 6-foot-2 star Jacks’ center.

“The whole game plan was based around how we can give her different looks and what might be the trickle-down effect from that,” Bernhard said. “Because you just can’t give her one look all game. She’s too talented, and AJ is way too good of a coach.”

North Dakota got fine production from its 6-foot-1 sophomore forward Pemberton, who had 23 points through three quarters. But UND had only 22 points from everyone else and shot 29.3% from the field, including 2-for-10 on layups.

“At the end of the day, rebounds just absolutely killed us,” Bernhard said.

They’ve killed a lot of teams this season, with SDSU now 23-0 this season when they’ve outrebounded their opponents.

The Jackrabbits are now seeking their 12th Summit tournament title since 2009 and improved to 39-5 all-time in the conference tournament. Saturday’s win was the 11th time in tournament history the Jacks’ have scored 80 points or more and have won each time.

SDSU is in that familiar championship position again on Sunday as a large favorite in the conference title game.

“(We have) another opportunity to compete for a tournament title, which I know we’ll be excited about,” Johnston said.

Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics. A Minnesota native, Traxler can be reached at mtraxler@mitchellrepublic.com.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Treysen Eaglestaff scored a Summit League-record 51 points — also the most in Division I this season — to power North Dakota to an 85-69 victory over South Dakota State on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Geno Crandall set the previous conference record while playing for the Fighting Hawks, scoring 41 in a victory over Troy during the 2017 regular season.

Eaglestaff’s 51 points are the most by a Division I player in any game since Houston Christian’s Darius Lee scored 52 in a four-overtime win against McNeese on March 5, 2022. It’s the most points in a non-overtime game against a Division I opponent since Marquette’s Markus Howard scored 54 against USC on Nov. 29, 2019.

Eaglestaff became the third Division I player to score 50 points in a conference tournament game in the past 30 years. He scored 40 points in a loss to Alabama on Dec. 18, making him the only Division I player with multiple 40-point games this season.

Eaglestaff shot 15-for-28 from the floor, including 8-for-18 from 3-point range, and 13-of-17 from the free throw line. He scored 28 points in the second half.

His 50-point game was the fourth in North Dakota history, with two of the others belonging to NBA coaching legend Phil Jackson (Feb. 24, 1967, 50; March 11, 1967, 52).

The third-seeded Jackrabbits (20-12) were led by Oscar Cluff with 27 points and 17 rebounds. Kalen Garry added 12 points and seven rebounds. Matthew Mors totaled 10 points and seven rebounds.

No. 6 seed North Dakota (12-20) advances to play second-seeded St. Thomas-Minnesota in Saturday’s semifinals.

The Tommies are in Year 4 of a four-year transition to Division I that renders them ineligible for the NCAA tournament. If St. Thomas wins win the Summit crown, the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament bid will be awarded to regular-season champion Omaha, even if the Mavericks lose in Saturday’s semifinal against South Dakota.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.