There has been a lot of commentary on what Senate Bill 201 hopes to accomplish, and as part of trying to stake out some middle ground in this matter one of the biggest things it’s going to try to do is to establish consistency that had been somewhat lacking.
One of the biggest problems is that along the pipeline route there are five counties that have tried to wrestle the project away from the PUC and introduce their own standards. And that’s been a major problem. So we have 5 ordinances; One set for Spink County, one set for Brown County, another for McPherson, then Minnehaha and finally Faulk county as they all create their own standards, largely for setbacks.
And here’s where it gets goofier. Setback ordinances vary from 1500 feet from property line in one county, 330 feet from a property line in another, then 1/2 mile from property line, and 1 mile from structure, then 1/2 mile from a structure and 2 miles from a town.
Some counties require a conditional use permits that have specific requirements from CAFO’s, Residences, Schools, Hospitals, etc. But all are different. Spink County says all those and adds any structure that has a living quarter in it. In McPherson, they require the pipeline to hire an engineer that works with the county with an annual inspection of fences that the pipeline has to pay for to make sure their fence requirements are being met.
Take that against 129 other counties in the United States that host CO2 pipelines without any setbacks. And you can see what they’re trying to deal with when 5 counties try to change the game in the middle of following the rules.
It would be as if we decided we needed an Interstate, but some counties don’t like it. So, one county drops the Interstate speed limit from 80 miles per hour to 55. Then the next has a couple of county commissioners that really hate Interstates, so they drop it to 30 miles per hour. Then another says 75 but 25 if you’re a mile from a church.. and then yet another requires fences and lights along any Interstate, and you have to construct it with asphalt. And yet another says they are making the Interstate a toll road.
And that’s what the pipeline is dealing with. But it’s worse – they’ve been trying to follow the laws as established for some time, but opponents and NIMBY’s keep upending the gameboard and changing the rules. Not very conducive to groups that want to come in and say, build a billion dollar bio-fuel plant, and all the decade old & older ethanol plants who have to modernize or they will be frozen out of markets, put out of business, and most of the corn & grain prices in the state will crash.
If we as a state are actually open for business, if we want growth and new development the very least we can do is actually create one set of rules, and follow them. Everyone should be able to agree on that.
If we’re going to practice what we preach, Senate Bill 201 is a step in the right direction to show that South Dakota is not California, Minnesota, or insert your least-liked blue state here.
The guidelines to do business in this state need to be clear, consistent, and equitable, and South Dakota is right to move forward with legislation that does just that. Time for South Dakota to be open for business without people blocking the doorway for the people they don’t like.
Well said, Pat. Of course we need to treat landowners fairly. But a single county or a single individual should not be able to prevent the siting of large, multi-county and/or multi-state projects. If South Dakota truly is open for business, let’s be open for business (while acknowledging that landowners sometimes have not been treated as courteously as they should have been).
This is not a comprise, it is legalizing the taking away of rights of citizens and local governments to determining what is appropriate for them. This is not critical or necessary infrastructure it is the grab of money from the woke CO2 boondoggle. Who is getting rich off the decarbonization of America?. Who is paying for all the lobbyists pushing this bill in Pierre?This is just like MN and California where the state government rams what ever they want down the throats of the citizens..Concentrated pressurized CO2 is a dangerous thing. See article below.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gassing-satartia-mississippi-co2-pipeline_n_60ddea9fe4b0ddef8b0ddc8f
RD what rights is it taking away?
The pipeline opponents keep howling about their Constitutional rights but I have yet to hear anyone say which of their rights are being taken away.
Couldn’t agree with you more. This is a private enterprise land grab.
It’s not much of a land grab. They are only taking what is four feet below the surface.
Ah yes, the standard finger pointing at the one co2 pipeline failure that made people sick. Which was also created by the perfect storm of topography, a natural disaster, and sulphur dioxide included in the pipeline. It’s like saying cars should be outlawed because a hammered drunk blind guy was driving, hit another another car, and gave the other driver whiplash. Oil pipelines have twice the incident rate as CO2 pipelines. If we stop CO2 pipelines, do you think that will stop the transport of CO2? It won’t. It will only change the method of transportation to rail or over the road. Both of which are significantly more dangerous than a pipeline.
It will be interesting to see if the opponents work to refer the law if passed. I wonder if they even know how to do that or if they’ve even begun working on it. They seem to be 2 steps behind but very energized.
Another question is does the governor sign 201 or surprise everyone with a digital currency veto? Kennecke is working 201 also so he might be cursed.
It is too little too late. People are aroused and suspicious. If it goes into law, it will be referred and will lose at the polls.
oh yeah, it’ll be referred and the result will be a moratorium on all infrastructure projects. It will be impossible to build new housing or businesses.
Way to go
Counties have as much right at regulating pipeline safety as they do interstate highways. This whole argument was the dream-child of the lawyer who helped kill Keystone XL- Brian Jorde. The lawyer came in, signed up a bunch of clients and then gaslighted them into thinking their counties could stop the pipeline. And sadly, the landowners who signed up and the commissioners who rushed to pass ordinances were tricked into thinking they could stop an interstate pipeline that is regulated by the federal government. The only thing they succeeded in doing was playing out the role of pawns in the lawyer’s plan to delay the project to try and kill it. The same game plan the lawyer used to kill KXL but this time, the SD legislature stepped in and corrected the course to regain some sanity that had been lost through the lies and disinformation spread by Brian Jorde and Domina Law Firm from Omaha. And now here we are. Hopefully the legislature passes SB 201 and stops all this nonsense. And hopefully the rubes who signed up with the Domina Law Firm and the useful idiots who sit on the county commissions can go back to a normal life after realizing they got duped.
The West Coast is making ethanol from cellulose because it is cheaper. Summit is making money from government grants and subsidies. When credits run out, we end up with pipe.
Do you have a name of the producer? Can I also show you how that process is subsidized as well?
Guys, no proxy posting, as has always been the rule.
Just Another Ponzi scheme to milk our tax dollars and the “useful idiots” that make this all possible line up like sheep in a slaughter house.