Midwest landowners notch big win after regulators deny permit for green pipeline project

North Dakota state regulators denied a permit for the route of a carbon capture pipeline project Friday amid local pushback, according to AgWeek.

The pipeline is a project of the Iowa-based company Summit Carbon Solutions, which told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it will resubmit the relevant paperwork and try to get the required permit again. The denial is a setback for the Biden administration’s green energy agenda, which relies in part on carbon capture and sequestration technology to bring down emissions in line with its goal of the U.S. reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to a White House fact sheet.

The pipeline would have captured carbon emissions from five Midwestern ethanol plants and transported them under North Dakota lands to a final destination for sequestration, according to AgWeek. Several local landowners had vehemently opposed the pipeline’s construction via the use of eminent domain, according to Dakota News Now.

“I’m a fourth-generation farmer, a lot of us are fourth or fifth or even beyond that,” Ed Fischbach, a farmer who lives in North Dakota, said in July, according to Dakota News Now. “It’s a way of life. It’s part of us. We’ll do anything we can to protect that [land]. That’s what’s important to us is to protect our future, protect what we have and to stand up for what’s right.”

The regulatory committee that rejected Summit’s permit request pointed to insufficient measures to mitigate impacts on various waterfowl and highlighted that the permit did not do enough to address the pipeline’s potential impact on cultural resources, according to AgWeek. The regulators also asserted that the company did not adequately explore alternate routes around landowners and Bismarck, North Dakota.

“Summit Carbon Solutions respects the decision by the North Dakota Public Service Commission, and we will revisit our proposal and reapply for our permit,” Sabrina Zenor, director of marketing and communications for Summit, told the DCNF, adding that the firm is “committed to understanding and incorporating the considerations outlined in the decision” of the regulators. “We are confident that our project supports state policies designed to boost key economic sectors: agriculture, ethanol, and energy.”

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