North Dakota PSC sets Summit carbon pipeline hearings

By Jeff Beach

The North Dakota Public Service Commission has set a series of public hearings on the controversial Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.

The hearings announced Friday are:

9 a.m. Monday, April 22, at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Mandan. The hearing could continue the entire week at this location. 9 a.m. Friday, May 24, at the Harry Stern & Ella Stern Cultural Center on the North Dakota State College of Science campus, Wahpeton.9 a.m. Tuesday, June 4, Our Club in Linton.

The PSC will take public testimony at the hearings, which is the only way to have comments be part of the official record on the case. The PSC can consider public input received outside of the hearings and that input may prompt specific questions to the company during the hearing.

PSC hearings are typically live-streamed through the website www.psc.nd.gov.

Summit calls its Midwest Carbon Express pipeline project the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project, gathering carbon emissions from ethanol plants for underground storage. It recently grew to more than 50 ethanol plants in five states – Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota before ending in North Dakota

There is one ethanol plant in North Dakota on the route, Tharaldson Ethanol at Casselton.

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

Since the PSC decision, Summit altered its route around landslide areas, and farther away from the city of Bismarck and other changes as it tries again to obtain a pipeline route permit from the PSC.

The pipeline runs through Burleigh, Cass, Dickey, Emmons, Logan, McIntosh, Morton, Oliver, Richland and Sargent counties to underground storage sites in Mercer and Oliver counties.

“Summit Carbon Solutions looks forward to presenting our case in Bismarck this April, and to the additional meetings to hear from landowners across the state. With more than 80% of the pipeline route voluntarily acquired, we believe North Dakotans understand the impact this project will have on the future of agriculture and energy in the state,” Summit said in an emailed statement.

Summit says the pipeline would benefit the ethanol industry and farmers who supply corn to the ethanol plants.

Hearings in 2023 drew opponents concerned about safety, damage to farmland and property values, and other issues and lasted several hours.

Gov. Doug Burgum has been a vocal supporter of carbon capture and the project, which includes oil developer Continental Resources as an investor.

Summit’s permit application is for underground storage but Summit officials also have testified that it intends to operate the pipeline as a common carrier, and CO2 could be used to help wells in North Dakota produce more oil.

“If another carrier decided to use, or ask us to transport CO2 for another purpose, like enhanced oil recovery, then that’s a possibility,” Jimmy Powell, Summit’s chief operations officer, told the Iowa Utilities Board last year.

Summit is offering to pay landowners who sign voluntary agreements, but those who do not could face the use of eminent domain, in which a court orders a landowner to provide right-of-way. A landowner would still be compensated if eminent domain is used.

This story was originally published by North Dakota Monitor, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. North Dakota Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Amy Dalrymple for questions: info@northdakotamonitor.com. Follow North Dakota Monitor on Facebook and Twitter.