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The Burleigh County Commission is searching for legal avenues to challenge a recent state permit approval for a major carbon dioxide pipeline set to travel a few miles outside of Bismarck. Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions has proposed to build a five-state, $8 billion project that would capture CO2 emissions from 57 ethanol plants and pipe them to west-central North Dakota for permanent storage underground. It was approved by the North Dakota Public Service Commission last week after two years of hearings.
The project awaits a key permit decision in South Dakota before construction would go forward. Summit reapplied there Tuesday after an initial rejection last year. That process could take a year.
Summit has attained leases for about 65% of its proposed route through Burleigh County, which is the lowest level of agreements across the entire state, where Summit has signed contracts for just over 80% of the pipeline's route. Relations between the County Commission and Summit have been contentious since 2022, when Summit initially proposed a route with the pipeline's closest points around 2 miles north and 3 miles east of Bismarck's extraterritorial area -- where the city is growing. Burleigh and Emmons counties last year placed restrictions on pipelines carrying hazardous materials within their borders in response to Summit’s project.
The company sought to have the PSC declare these ordinances preempted and superseded by state authority. The PSC ultimately sided with Summit. After the PSC issued an initial denial of Summit's permit last year, the company moved the proposed route to about 5 miles north of the extraterritorial area, though the section of the route to the east of the city remained relatively unchanged.
Summit requested a reconsideration, which the PSC granted. Burleigh County officials have continued to oppose the project's location. At a project hearing this spring, one state government lawyer referred to there being a "complete breakdown of communication between Burleigh County and Summit.
" The Burleigh County Commission is searching for avenues to challenge the recent state permit approval for a major pipeline set to travel a few miles outside of Bismarck. The county will need to file an appeal to the decision in court by Dec. 15.
Commission Chair Brian Bitner said the county is still exploring legal options. So far, just over $127,000 in legal fees has been spent by the county. "We're looking for people that either signed easements or declined to sign easements under threat of eminent domain being used," he said.
Eminent domain is the taking of private property for public use with just compensation. Companies are expected to negotiate in good faith under the law. Three pipeline opponents also vented their frustrations over the PSC's decision at the Burleigh County Commission's Monday night meeting.
Around 20 other people who opposed the pipeline were also in attendance. Project supporters say the pipeline will give Midwestern farmers an opportunity to sell corn for more money to low-carbon ethanol producers. Some from the state hope the pipeline will one day be extended to North Dakota's oilfields where CO2 can be used in enhanced oil recovery.
Summit maintains its project is safe. Opponents of the pipeline across North Dakota and the other four states where it is proposed have expressed concerns mostly over safety and land rights, though the coalition is ideologically diverse, ranging from environmentalists to those expressing skepticism or denial of the scientific consensus on climate change. Broadly, Burleigh County commissioners have said their concerns are over potential safety issues associated with the pipeline, though they also regularly express doubts over the need for the project.
CO2 is heavier than air and can travel close to the ground for extended periods of time if there was a pipeline rupture. There is no standard potential impact radius for a CO2 leak, according to Kenneth Clarkson, spokesman for the watchdog group Pipeline Safety Trust. In large concentrations it can be hazardous.
The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is in the process of updating its regulations regarding CO2 lines in response to a 2020 rupture in Satartia, Mississippi, on a pipeline operated by oil firm Denbury. The incident caused over 40 people to seek hospital care and led to an evacuation of over 200 people from the rural town. How CO2 spreads is specific to the geography and atmosphere of where a rupture could occur.
Summit has shared the information from its spread models with emergency managers and other local government officials, though it is under a protective order granted by the PSC, which Summit requested, citing concerns around terrorism. According to testimony this spring from a prominent Bismarck-area developer who has opposed the project's location, the company shared the model with him and two oil industry lobbyists -- none of whom work for the company or are government officials. In September, a researcher working on a model which could be used in the new regulations from PHMSA told the Tribune that CO2 pipelines can be built and operated safely, but there are still uncertainties over location-based risks.
There are about 5,300 miles of CO2 pipelines operating in the U.S. The CO2 pipeline incident rate is historically smaller than natural gas or oil pipelines, though those footprints are 3 million miles and 230,000 miles, respectively.
There is already one lawsuit in North Dakota which has the potential to slow down the project. Emmons County has filed a challenge against the PSC's decision over the authority of local ordinances. Summit has argued these ordinances make it impossible to build the line through Burleigh and Emmons counties.
County governments maintain there are still potential routes. The court case has been on hold, though it is expected to resume now that the PSC has made a decision. After the PSC's decision last week, some landowners told the Tribune that there will likely be litigation from them too.
Reach Joey Harris at 701-250-8252 or [email protected] .
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