YORK COUNTY – Summit Carbon Solutions, a company proposing to create a 2,000-mile carbon capture pipeline which would go through York County, has been dealt roadblocks to its $5.5 billion project as regulatory panels in North Dakota and South Dakota denied their permit applications.
The $5.5 billion interstate pipeline network would carry CO2 emissions from more than 30 ethanol plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, to eventually be buried deep underground in central North Dakota.
Summit representatives have met with the York County Commissioners several times since the project was first announced to provide updates as the project is still in the infancy stages. Meanwhile, York County’s planning and zoning committee has been working on local regulations pertaining to these types of projects, as they currently do not exist in York County’s zoning regulations.
York County’s zoning regulations have been a focus for months, as the county could see this project pass through if it becomes reality.
According to the Associated Press, North Dakota regulators have denied Summit a siting permit but granted the company’s request for reconsideration. The South Dakota panel denied the company’s permit application, but Summit intends to reapply.
Iowa regulators this month suspected a weekslong hearing for Summit’s project, set to resume next month.
Minnesota regulators are proceeding with an environmental review for a small part of the Summit project.
In a written statement to the Associated Press, Summit said it “welcomes and is well positioned to add additional plants and communities to our project footprint. We remain as committed to our project as the day we announced it.”
Back in March, Ben Fuller and Eric Welsch from Summit Carbon Solutions told the York County Commissioners they had been gaining on easements in York County and throughout Nebraska. At that point, the company was at 41% of the easements (needed for the project) in the county, with 7.69 miles of voluntary easements. At that point, the company had paid $1.7 million to landowners in York County.
