An update on the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline
The CEO of Summit Carbon Solutions says permit work continues for a carbon pipeline that, once completed, is expected to span five states across the Midwest.
Lee Blank says the Iowa Utilities Commission recently issued a construction permit for the company, but another permit is needed.
“The first permit approval should certainly help with the second permit, in my opinion. We’ve put the path in place to go ahead and work through the process. I believe it will be a process the IUC is used to and it should make it more accommodating as we move through the second permit.”
He says public meetings are happening before the company applies for the second permit, likely within the next 60 days.
The Iowa Utilities Commission has given the company approval to use eminent domain to force the sale of land from landowners who are opposed to the project. And before construction can begin, the project must be approved by regulators in the Dakotas. Blank says…
“We will be re-applying for our permit application in South Dakota in the next 60 days or soon. We’re taking the opportunity, finding landowners who would be accommodating to the route and that appreciate the project,” he says. “We’re through the hearing process in North Dakota for the pipeline as well as the sequestration sites. We’re just waiting on the PSC and the NDIC.”
He says permit approval is still needed in Minnesota and a ruling is expected in late December or early January. Lee previously told Brownfield Nebraska’s permitting situation would go into next year.
Carbon pipelines can help the U.S. ethanol industry capture, store and sequester carbon to meet President Biden’s goal to reduce greenhouse gases, but these projects haven’t been easy to advance. Last October, the Navigator CO2 pipeline project was cancelled due to regulatory issues and government processes in South Dakota and Iowa.
Blank says the project has big potential for U.S. corn and the Sustainable Aviation Fuel market, but there’s also pushback by some landowners about the use of eminent domain on the project.
Brownfield interviewed Blank at the Ag Outlook Forum in Kansas City.