SUMMIT CARBON SOLUTIONS REAPPLIES FOR PIPELINE PERMIT WITH THE SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar / South Dakota Searchlight) – An Iowa company proposing a carbon dioxide pipeline said it resubmitted its permit application to South Dakota regulators Tuesday with what the company described as “major reroutes.”
The move comes more than a year after the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission rejected Summit Carbon Solution’s initial application. At that time, the commission cited the route’s non-compliance with county laws mandating minimum distances between pipelines and existing features.
A new route map was not immediately available from the company or state officials Tuesday morning, but maps became available later Tuesday amid hundreds of pages of application documents released by the state.
An application letter from project lawyer Brett Koenecke addresses the route changes.
“Despite Applicant’s best efforts, the proposed route is not fully compliant with existing ordinances as presently enacted in several counties,” Koenecke wrote. “Those ordinances would result, in some cases, in no project being built at all, or, in other cases, in needless additional length, involving more landowners, not fewer, and would have resulted in project participants being stranded by the project.”
Summit’s latest South Dakota route includes 700 miles with connections to 14 ethanol plants in the eastern part of the state, plus a proposed sustainable aviation fuel plant, the company said. Overall, the $9 billion pipeline would span 2,500 miles with connections to 57 ethanol plants in five states.
Summit already has permits in Iowa and North Dakota. A decision is pending in Minnesota, and Nebraska has no state permitting processing for carbon pipelines.
Project details
Summit plans to capture some of the carbon dioxide produced during ethanol production, liquefy it, and transport it via pipeline to North Dakota for injection underground in a process known as “sequestration.” That could qualify the company for billions of dollars in federal tax credits that are intended to incentivize the removal of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
A Tuesday news release from Summit said the pipeline could also make carbon available for uses including green methanol, water treatment, food processing and dry ice production.
The sequestration area is near the oilfields of western North Dakota, and project critics have long alleged that some of the carbon dioxide in the pipeline could be used for enhanced oil recovery. In that process, liquid CO2 is injected into aging oil wells to extract additional crude oil.
Summit’s website says the pipeline “will not be used for enhanced oil recovery.” Yet during a 2023 permit hearing in Iowa, Summit Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Powell said it’s “a possibility” that Summit could transport CO2 for “another carrier” that might use it for enhanced oil recovery.
The project has faced staunch opposition in South Dakota from landowners who don’t want the pipeline crossing their land, and from landowners and others concerned about potential leaks of toxic carbon dioxide plumes.
A Tuesday press release from Summit mentioned reroutes in Spink, Brown, McPherson and Lincoln counties — areas where local siting laws played a role in state regulators’ denial of Summit’s first permit application.
Ed Fischbach, a pipeline opponent and Aberdeen-area farmer, said the company previously claimed it could not abide by those local laws.
“That’s what they were saying under oath,” Fischbach said. “It is just more evidence that this company has not been telling the truth. They said, ‘There’s no way we can make these work, and they’re too restrictive.’”
The company said Tuesday it incorporated input from landowners and local officials during a yearlong series of negotiations.
“This project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen South Dakota’s agricultural future while advancing energy innovation,” said Lee Blank, Summit’s CEO, in a statement. He emphasized the company’s commitment to “working hand in hand with landowners and communities” to achieve a balanced solution.
Lawsuits pending, legislation possible
But the proposal is politically fraught in South Dakota. Fourteen incumbent state legislators lost to challengers in the June primary election, and the incumbents’ support of a controversial pipeline law was a factor in many races.
Legislators and Gov. Kristi Noem approved the law last winter, describing it as balanced approach to implement new protections for landowners and county governments while leaving open a regulatory door for the pipeline’s potential approval.
Opponents attacked a portion of the law they said would require counties to prove their siting laws are reasonable, rather than requiring Summit prove them unreasonable. Opponents also gathered petition signatures and forced the law onto the November ballot, where 59% of voters rejected it.
One of the many organizations that joined in the fight against the law was Dakota Rural Action. Chase Jensen, an organizer with the group, said voters sent a message with their rejection of Referred Law 21.
“It shows that South Dakota trusts local governments to regulate these projects,” Jensen said. “Summit’s new route will be telling whether they heard the message or not.”
Summit aims to begin construction in 2026 and start operations in 2027. State regulators will review Summit’s new application in the coming months, which could overlap with legislative action on the proposal. Many of the new South Dakota legislators who will take office in January are opponents of the project’s potential use of eminent domain, a legal process for obtaining access to land from unwilling landowners in exchange for just compensation.
A further complication for the company is a set of lawsuits in South Dakota challenging Summit’s right to use eminent domain.
In August, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that Summit had not yet proven its status as a “common carrier,” a designation necessary to the eminent domain process. The court sent the lawsuits back to lower courts, where Summit said it would try to prove its case.
PRISON OFFICIAL: SWEAT LODGES REBUILT AND IN OPERATION AT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE PENITENTIARY AFTER SEPTEMBER LOCKDOWN
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko told the South Dakota Corrections Commission that prison staff found contraband in sweat lodges disassembled during a weekslong prison lockdown earlier this fall in Sioux Falls.
She also said the lodges have been rebuilt and became operational again a few weeks ago on the grounds of the South Dakota State Penitentiary. Sweat lodges are ceremonial spaces for Native Americans. Ceremonies involve pouring water over hot rocks in an enclosed dome while prayers are sung, typically in an Indigenous language.
Wasko gave the commission an update on the lockdown Tuesday during the advisory group’s last meeting of the year. The secretary offered the same presentation she’d shared last month with the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Commission, which includes several photos of contraband seized during the lockdown.
Most of the details on the results of the 17-day lockdown were shared with lawmakers behind closed doors during that October audit committee meeting. The following day, Teresa Bittinger was out as penitentiary warden. Through a spokesman, the Department of Corrections declined to share if she’d resigned or been let go, saying the agency can’t share personnel information.
DOC: Contraband continues to circulate
The lockdown, Wasko said in October and again on Tuesday, was a preemptive measure meant to clear the Sioux Falls prison facilities of dangerous contraband, not a response to a specific incident.
Wasko told the commission that the photos shared, including fiberglass and plexiglass formed into weapons, only represent a portion of the contraband seized during the lockdown. She also said that more contraband has been found in the periodic cell shakedowns that have taken place since.
Lynette Johnson, the widow of a correctional officer killed by two inmates in 2011, attended Tuesday’s meeting. She wanted to know where the contraband was found, and how inmates were able to access the materials. She also asked how many inmates had been referred to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution as a result of the lockdown.
Individual inmates had some of the contraband, Wasko said, but other items were found in common areas.
“I want to say that it involved roughly six inmates that were directly correlated to contraband,” she said.
She declined to offer details on where any of the items might have come from before being uncovered by DOC staff, citing security.
The DOC’s job, Wasko said, is to “stay ahead” of contraband issues.
Complaint management
The commission also discussed the finances of the prison shops. Two years ago, the DOC adopted a policy of instituting corrective action plans for prison industry shops that lose money for six consecutive fiscal quarters. DOC Finance Director Brittni Skipper said this month, for the first time in that two-year window, none of the shops currently operating are on corrective action plans.
Skipper also offered an update on commissary, essentially the inmate general store. The DOC took on the management of commissary a few months ago under the terms of a new contract with Union Supply Group, a company owned by food service giant Aramark.
The company pays to lease warehouse space in the prison in Sioux Falls, and also pays inmate labor costs. Skipper said the next update on prison finances will reflect a 5% commission.
There was also discussion from commission members on what to do with citizen or inmate inquiries. Commission member and Minnehaha County Circuit Judge Jon Sogn said he’d gotten letters from inmates in recent months, as did state Sen. Shawn Bordeaux, D-Rosebud, who chairs the commission. Bordeaux also mentioned calls and emails from DOC employees, who told him they didn’t want to share their names for fear of retribution.
David McGirr, who represents retailers on the commission, said he’d gotten messages about changes in the price of popular commissary items.
Several inmates and family members have expressed frustration over price increases, or over items in smaller packages priced similarly to the larger packages available through the previous contractor.
At the last commission meeting in September, Skipper said most of the prices are within a few cents of the old prices. After being questioned on the much higher price attached to in-cell televisions, Wasko said the new TVs are corrections-grade, sturdier and clear for security purposes.
On Tuesday, Wasko told commissioners that any complaints should be forwarded to the DOC to investigate and resolve. Judge Sogn asked if the responses and resolutions would be distributed to all the commission members, and Wasko said that typically wouldn’t happen.
“Our goal is more so to answer the questions and rectify any problems that come up,” Wasko said. “To then send it out to the whole commission, I’m not sure what that would accomplish.”
Bordeaux, who was elected to serve as chair but will vacate his legislative seat on the commission due to his loss on Election Day, suggested that commissioners share complaints among themselves, and that the DOC ought to share any follow-up information.
“I think it’s very important that we all stay informed, especially right now,” Bordeaux said. “It seems like it’s more chaotic now than all the years that I’ve sat on a commission.”
Wasko said the agency is committed to resolving problems. When an inmate, DOC employee, volunteer or inmate family member has a complaint, Wasko said, “we’re going to look into it.
SOUTH DAKOTA RAIL BOARD SENDS $12.6 MILLION TO MITCHELL AREA TO SUPPORT SOY PROCESSING PLANT
PIERRE, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – The South Dakota Railroad Board voted Wednesday to send $12.6 million to the Davison Regional Rail Authority for upgrades to service the state’s largest soybean processing facility.
The $504 million High Plains Processing plant 2 miles south of Mitchell broke ground about a year ago. The South Dakota Soybean Processors-led project is designed to help meet demand for soybean feed for livestock and for soy-based biofuels.
The Davison County Commission dedicated $21 million in financing in 2023 through a tax increment financing deal that the company will pay back through new and higher property tax revenues.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development also chipped in funding, to the tune of $6.7 million. The plant is expected to process 35 million bushels of beans a year, produce 570,000 tons of seed meal and 300,000 tons of oil and employ 85 people.
The new funding will flow to the Davison rail authority, and will be used to build out 6.2 miles of rail line, 22 industrial turnouts and two mainline turnouts for trains to switch tracks. The new rail infrastructure is expected to service 147 rail cars a week, according to the project application submitted to the Railroad Board. Unit trains with 100 or more cars will move through once or twice a month, the application says.
The money will come from the State Rail Trust Fund. The application notes that while there are several private investors for the plant itself, there are none for the rail lines needed to service it.
Shipping by rail, the project’s application says, will keep 30,000 long-haul trucks off the road each year, though project backers told the board that truck traffic would spike in the immediate area as farmers bring crops to the facility.
Rail Board Member Greg Carmen of Brandon recused himself from the discussion and decision on the rail funding because he’s an investor in High Plains.
Tom Kersting of South Dakota Soybean Processors told the board the processing plant will be a boon to economic growth, and that the plant could be up and running in October of 2025.
He noted that the plant might also process crops like sunflower, camelina and canola, which can be more easily grown on the west side of the state. “We could also consider some of these new, novel oilseed energy crops,” Kersting said. “Some of those crops can be grown in the poorer ground out west.”
The Davison Regional Rail Authority was created in August to service the project, but High Plains will sign the promissory note on the loan. Project backers had hoped to secure a $16 million loan, but Transportation Secretary Joel Jundt told the board that the rail fund has about $35 million at the moment, with $10.8 million in funding needs already identified. There are another $15 million or so in potential projects that might seek grant funding soon, he said.
If a rail bridge were to collapse, Jundt said, the board might see a loan application to cover the rebuilding.
“I would caution you to, in essence, not loan out everything we have so we’ll be able to handle some of those emergencies in the future,” Jundt said.
The board agreed, voting to approve a $12.6 million amount for the loan, with a 2.95% interest rate.
Previously, the largest-ever loan from the fund was $7 million in 2007, Jundt said.
