(Jeff Beach – North Dakota Monitor) – The North Dakota Public Service Commission will meet Friday to vote on the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project that aims to permanently store carbon emissions underground west of Bismarck.
The commission will meet at 10 a.m. in the Pioneer Room on the ground floor in the Judicial Wing of the Capitol Building.
The PSC denied Summit a permit in 2023, but the company made changes to its route in North Dakota and appealed the decision.
The three-person commission has held multiple public hearings on the $8 billion pipeline network that would gather carbon emissions from ethanol plants in five states, including Tharaldson Ethanol at Casselton, North Dakota.
Supporters view the project as vital to helping the ethanol industry compete in low-carbon fuel markets. Ethanol is a key market for corn growers.
Opponents cite safety concerns, damage to farmland and property values and an infringement on property rights. Some landowners also have complained about Summit’s business practices.
Iowa has granted Summit a permit, and the company says it plans to try again for a permit in South Dakota. Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission is expected to vote Dec. 12 on a 28-mile segment near the North Dakota state line.
The project also includes Nebraska, which has no state agency in charge of issuing permits for CO2 pipelines.
Summit would benefit from federal tax credits of $85 per ton of CO2 that it plans to put underground in North Dakota, and would sequester 18 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Iowa-based Summit will need a separate storage permit from the North Dakota Industrial Commission.
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