This week the South Dakota House Transportation Committee voted 8 to 5 to advance a measure that would expand South Dakota utilities laws to allow waste disposal pipelines along roadways. State Representative Mary Duvall of Pierre who backs the measure says the bill gives county governments authority to regulate the pipelines, which producers use to run livestock manure through road ditches and then pump the waste onto fields as fertilizer.
She says transporting livestock waste by pipeline is not only safer than moving it by truck, it also cause less wear on state roads.
Duvall says it also takes less time to transport manure by pipeline.
The full House debate on the measure could come as early as Thursday afternoon. If the House approves it, the bill next moves to the Senate for a public hearing.
