SB201 referral petitions validated. 9 days after the deadline.

Reports are coming in this afternoon that the referral of Senate Bill 201, the Landowner Bill of Rights, had sufficient petitions signatures to send it to a vote this fall.

Of course, this comes well over a week after the deadline, and when the bill was supposed to go into effect.  What are we going to be voting on? According to the SD Ag Alliance, the “Landowner Bill of Rights” includes the following protections and compensation for landowners and counties:

• Compensation for Landowners: Requires carbon capture pipelines to pay landowners $500 to access their land for surveying (HB 1185) and at least .50 cents per linear foot of pipeline through their property in the form of property tax relief (SB 201)

• Compensation for Counties: Allows counties to collect $1.00 per linear foot of pipeline that runs through their county. At least 50% of the surcharge must be used for property tax relief for landowners on the route. The remaining revenue can be spent by counties at their discretion. (SB 201)

• Indemnity for Landowners: Requires pipeline companies to indemnify landowners for liability. (SB 201)

• Minimum Burial Depth: Requires pipeline to be buried at least 4 ft deep, exceeding federal regulations of 3 ft (SB 201)

• Disclosure of Dispersion Models: Requires carbon pipeline companies to make dispersion modeling public. (SB 201)

• Lifetime Drain Tile Repairs: Requires pipeline companies to repair any damage to drain tile (SB 201)

• Impact Mitigation: Requires pipeline companies to file an impact mitigation plan. (SB 201)

• Leak Liability: Makes carbon pipeline companies liable to the landowner for any damage caused by leaks. (SB 201)

• Land Surveyors Must be from SD: Requires land surveyors be South Dakota residents. (SB 201)

(As cribbed from DRG News.)

So, no payments for landowners, no property tax relief, no lifetime drain tile repairs, no liability, etc.

The system that legislators attempted to improve will remain as it has.

At least until a vote in the fall.