Navigator CO2 Ventures

Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen participates in a hearing July 25, 2023, in Fort Pierre on a permit application for the proposed Heartland Greenway carbon dioxide pipeline. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Decision looms by Sept. 6 on pipeline permit, overruling counties

BY: - August 25, 2023

The Public Utilities Commission will decide at a later date whether it will overrule county zoning officials on behalf of a carbon pipeline company. Friday marked the second day of a two-day hearing in Pierre on the question of county authority, brought by  Navigator CO2 Ventures, the company behind one of two proposed carbon pipelines […]

Ed Fischbach, a Democrat and farmer from Spink County, speaks to a crowd of hundreds opposed to eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines on July 6, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Unusual alliances emerge amid opposition to eminent domain for carbon pipelines

BY: - July 7, 2023

Opponents of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipeline projects in South Dakota have forged a unique coalition. It includes Republicans, Democrats, climate change deniers who see the pipelines as a boondoggle, and environmentalists skeptical of the pipelines’ benefits. Many of them agree on one contention: that unlike water and natural gas pipelines, electrical transmission lines […]

Navigator CO2 Ventures Vice President of Government and Public Affairs Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, left, speaks with opponents of carbon pipelines following a meeting of the Minnehaha County Commission on June 6, 2023, in Sioux Falls (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Minnehaha County passes rules for carbon pipelines despite opposition from both sides

BY: - June 6, 2023

SIOUX FALLS – Officials in South Dakota’s largest county dealt a blow to opponents of two carbon pipeline companies with a vote to set shorter-than-requested spaces between homes and pipelines in their first-ever set of rules for such projects.  Minnehaha County commissioners convened Tuesday to take up the issue of setbacks in a long-debated pipeline […]

Chris Ruhl, who oversees accident investigations for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said advanced plume modeling is being evaluated and tweaked. (Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Experts: Predicting CO2 pipeline rupture threats can be extremely costly

BY: - June 1, 2023

DES MOINES, Iowa — A carbon dioxide plume modeling software did not anticipate the threat a pipeline break in 2020 posed to a small Mississippi town, largely because it did not take land topography into account. That break near Satartia, Mississippi, resulted in emergency responders scrambling to save people from a “green gas” and “rotten […]

Carbon dioxide pipeline opponents rallied in Des Moines on Wednesday as federal officials met to discuss their safety issues. (Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Feds: Carbon dioxide pipelines are necessary to reduce emissions

BY: - May 31, 2023

Up to 60,000 miles of carbon dioxide pipeline must be installed in the United States to help eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a federal engineer. Part of that mileage might come from proposed pipelines that would cross Iowa and transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants for underground sequestration or other […]

A carbon dioxide pipeline break in 2020 in Mississippi sickened dozens. (Photo courtesy of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration)

Environmental groups seek Biden moratorium on carbon dioxide pipelines

BY: - May 25, 2023

President Joe Biden should prevent the construction of new carbon dioxide pipelines until changes to federal rules are adopted to increase their safety, opponents of the projects said Thursday. The call for an executive order to stall the projects comes as federal regulators consider changes to pipeline requirements and are set to hold a two-day […]

People raise their hands to signal their intent to speak in support of an ordinance that would restrict carbon pipelines at a Minnehaha County Commission meeting on May 23, 2023, in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Tie vote delays decision on carbon pipeline policy in Minnehaha County

BY: - May 23, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — Minnehaha County commissioners gridlocked Tuesday on setbacks from rural homes and postponed a vote on an ordinance with the potential to scuttle two carbon capture pipelines. The absence of Commission Chair Jean Bender set the stage for a 2-2 vote and a return to the issue at the June 6 meeting. Plenty […]

Opponents of liquid carbon pipelines rally Nov. 9, 2022, in Cowles Commons in downtown Des Moines. (Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Landowner battles against pipelines vary by state

BY: - May 13, 2023

Sprawling Midwestern pipelines that would carry captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and other facilities would change little when they cross state lines. The proposals would be constructed the same way in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas — with carbon steel pipe ranging from 4 to 24 inches in diameter with operating pressures […]

A roughly drawn map of the two liquid carbon pipelines' proposed paths. (Illustration by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Judge says Iowa’s pipeline land survey law is constitutional

BY: - May 12, 2023

An Iowa district court judge decided this week that a state law is constitutional that allows land surveys for carbon dioxide pipelines regardless of landowners’ consent, according to court records. The ruling — in a Hardin County case — is at odds with another judge’s ruling last week in Clay County, which said the law does not […]

The Humbolt Fire Department, as seen on Nov. 18, 2022. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

County commissioner: Carbon pipelines should outfit volunteer fire departments

BY: - March 30, 2023

A Minnehaha County commissioner wants volunteer firefighters in the state’s most populous county to ask for safety equipment from two carbon pipeline companies for use in the event of a pipeline failure — something the companies say they’re willing to do. The suggestion from Commissioner Joe Kippley came last week on the heels of a […]