Interesting story I read today on the Jet Fuel plant that a company is looking to bring to Lake Preston – setting a community that had a foot and a half in the grave back on the road to prosperity. One thing the project states they need to make it happen – the Summit Carbon pipeline:
Without the Summit Carbon Solutions’ pipeline, what’s believed to be the largest capital investment in South Dakota’s history might not happen.
That was part of the message from Kent Hartwig, director of state government affairs with Gevo, at Tuesday’s Brown County Commission meeting at the courthouse annex.
Gevo is planning a plant near Lake Preston that would include an ethanol plant and a hydrocarbon plant that converts the ethanol into aviation jet fuel. The plant would be powered by an adjoining wind farm.
The ethanol-hydrocarbon plant is estimated to cost $850 million and the wind farm $150 million, for an overall investment of $1 billion. The wind farm would power the plant.
While a lot of people want to put their blinders on, the fact of the matter is that energy plants, such as ethanol and in this case, jet fuel, have to be cognizant of making their product as carbon neutral as possible if they want to sell to anyone in other countries, and in ever increasing frequency, in other states. You can produce the fuel, but if you can’t sell it to other people, well, you’re going to go out of business quickly.
This plant will be a major consumer of ag products, keeping corn prices high.
The question is whether those who oppose the pipeline can give up their opposition to ethanol and ag producers, and support South Dakota.
Global warming is a hoax and the climate has been changing for billions of years.
An ethanol plant doesn’t depend on a carbon pipeline subsidized by American taxpayers to operate.
I think you’re not understanding the issue.
The markets for ethanol have been blocked by policy (carbon credits).
Without the pipeline – the least expensive way to accumulate this arguably illegal currency to access ethanol markets – is the pipeline.
ND is already a wasteland, and our economy has been backed into a corner which threatens us all with global war and death.
So, once we can dump the carbon credit racket .. I mean policy .. I hope they’ll put sweet crude or super efficiency natural gas through it.
The concept of electric everything is interesting, but the American people should be the stewards of the roll out (we are the real stakeholders with interest, motivation, and energy to determine ROI, road maps, time lines, and profit margins).
I know, “HOW DARE I!” (in a Finnish accent).
How can someone be so confidently wrong? Prime example of Dunning-Kruger in action folks.
I don’t love this project inherently.
I love it because of the elegance and beauty with which it counter attacks people who hate America and designed policies to destroy her .. USING BUSINESS STRATEGY!
😀
If the pipeline is for public benefit and is so safe, run it in the right-of-way along roads-especially the interstate. If it is not safe enough for those areas I do not want it cutting thru my property
Instead of one time easement payments why not on-going payments since there are on-going restrictions on the property.
This is a for profit adventure and they will screw the land owner
This project doesn’t cross my land
Jad, they are already running it along the existing rights of way, in tanker trucks labelled “Compressed CO2.” They are already out on the interstate highways. They probably already have some traveling by rail, too, but I havent been stuck at any railroad crossings long enough to notice..
This runs the compressed gas through population centers. which is safer for everybody (not!)
Artificial markets are unpredictable and highly suspicious to market and policy pressures. Even the strongest advocates of global warming/climate change admit carbon capture is an artificial market, they simply argue we need it. The pipeline will provide money and jobs as long as politicians support it. European markets will buy it as long as they can afford it. But make no mistake, Europe still relies heavily on fossil fuels, specifically Russian gas, to stay warm. If we were incentivizing a faster transition already underway, that would be one thing. The reality is simply different. Consider the EROEI or energy density of oil is around 20:1 where most renewables are less than 5:1. Ethanol is especially low and closer to the 2:1 ratio. Frankly, I don’t care if we get out energy from oil, ethanol or hamster wheel. We just need energy. If someone wants to buy jet fuel from Lake Preston, let them. But this must be market driven. Right now, when a person advocated for this pipeline what they usually mean is they want eminent domain or some broad declaration from the PUC killing local ordinances. If one landowner wants to sell an easement, let ‘em. If another landowner declines, leave ‘em alone.
This was killed also:
https://www.porkbusiness.com/news/industry/wholestone-farms-halts-500m-sioux-falls-plant-project-now
South Dakota is the Wild West of economic development. Lot’s of “Big Idea” projects get floated looking to attract investors and public money. It’s a bit like gold mine speculation in the early Black Hills. “A gold mine is a hole in the ground with a fool at the bottom.”–Mark Twain