(Jeff Beach – North Dakota Monitor) – A group of landowners and two counties are appealing a North Dakota’s agency’s approval of a large carbon dioxide pipeline.
The North Dakota Public Service Commission on Nov. 15 approved a route permit for 333 miles of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline in North Dakota. North Dakota is the planned endpoint of a 2,500 mile pipeline network to carry CO2 from ethanol plants in five states to an underground storage area west of Bismarck.
Attorney Brian Jorde of Domina Law, which represents landowners across the pipeline area, said Friday in an email that there are several problems with the PSC’s findings.
He said the PSC received plume modeling and dispersion risk analysis as prepared by Summit that would show how CO2 might spread if there was a rupture of the hazardous liquid pipeline.
The PSC did not allow the other parties to the case access to the plume information.
“This ‘confidential’ information was also shared with other members of the public, yet potentially directly affected citizens engaged in the routing application process were kept in the dark,” Jorde wrote. He said that constituted a violation of due process rights.
If CO2 leaks from a pipeline, it can sicken or kill people in the immediate area.
“The public of North Dakota deserve transparency before hazardous pipelines are forced upon them,” Jorde said.
Jorde said the landowner appeal will be filed in Burleigh County District Court.
The two counties that are appealing are Burleigh and Emmons, both on the main trunk of the pipeline in central North Dakota.
The counties are appealing the PSC’s February ruling that state rules supersede county ordinances on issues including how close a residence can be to a carbon pipeline.
Emmons County filed an appeal on the ruling in March, but the matter was set aside until the commission voted on the permit application.
Burleigh County filed its appeal this week.
In South Dakota, the Public Utilities Commission ruled that county ordinances preempt state carbon pipeline rules, a main reason Summit was denied a permit there. Summit has since filed a new application.
Summit has a permit in Iowa and for a short segment of its route in Minnesota. Nebraska has no state agency that issues carbon pipeline permits.
The North Dakota Industrial Commission on Thursday approved Summit’s plan for underground storage of the carbon dioxide.
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