Landowners who are facing the seizure of their property via eminent domain for Summit Carbon’s proposed CO2 pipeline project in North Dakota and across the Midwest praised the North Dakota Public Service Commission’s unanimous decision issued on Friday to reject Summit’s permit application for a route in the state of North Dakota.
“When advocates, landowners and a legal team come together with the goal of protecting property rights and our rural towns we have proven over and over again that we win. The denial of Summit’s risky carbon pipeline in North Dakota means their proposal in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota are a pipeline to nowhere since they now have no injection points to dump their toxic waste. Carbon pipelines from the beginning were a boondoggle for corporations leaving rural people with all of the risks. It’s time for our country to turn a page away from pipelines to more clean energy that generates wealth for rural towns and energy for America,” —said Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance director.
“It has been a long and painful journey for North Dakota landowners concerned about a foreign owned company forcing itself upon them and targeting landowners’ property for private profits, funded by the American taxpayer. We applaud the Public Service Commission for their courage and thoughtfulness in denying Summit’s application and encourage the other states to follow suit,” — said Brian Jorde, lead attorney for landowners with Domina Law Group.
“This victory is a testament to the strength of our community and the power of collective action across the political spectrum. Together, we have shown that when ‘We the People’ stand together, we can make a difference to protect property rights and our environment for future generations,” —said Scott Skokos, Executive Director of Dakota Resource Council.
The proposed Summit project is now another “pipeline to nowhere” — as North Dakota is where Summit had planned to sequester the toxic carbon dioxide waste underground, and the corporation now has no place to put the gas. The same situation faces Navigator CO2 Ventures’ proposed CO2 pipeline that the corporation has said it intends to terminate within the state of Illinois, yet it had secured just 13% of easements with landowners for the pore space it would need after more than a year of efforts. It’s clear that landowners across the Midwest reject these dangerous and unregulated carbon pipeline projects that are abusing eminent domain for private gain to chase billions of dollars in federal tax credits.
