South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
(. South Dakota Searchlight via the North Dakota Monitor) – Some ethanol leaders think it’s ironic that Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden brought his “Open for Opportunity” tour to an ethanol plant this week, after he signed a bill that negatively impacted a proposed multi-billion-dollar project for the industry.
“The whole industry is very disappointed with how things went in South Dakota,” Walt Wendland, president of the Ringneck Energy ethanol plant in Onida, told South Dakota Searchlight.
Rhoden visited the plant Tuesday, after launching his tour highlighting economic development on Monday in Sioux Falls.
Wendland wants to connect the Onida plant to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed $9 billion, five-state pipeline that would capture carbon dioxide from more than 50 ethanol plants and transport it to an underground storage site in North Dakota. The project would be eligible for federal tax credits incentivizing the prevention of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
