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Land owner bill of rights rejected in South Dakota
South Dakota voters have rejected a measure that proposed consistent carbon pipeline regulations in the state.
South Dakota Farm Bureau President and farmer Scott VanderWal says there were misconceptions about the measure and he’s disappointed it failed.
“The South Dakota Legislature was really looking to make sure economic development happens in the future. If a carbon pipeline goes through, there’s a strong possibility a Gevo plant will be built here to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel.”
VanderWal says farmers are tired of selling corn for $3.50/bushel and SAF could help grow the ethanol market.
Rancher Amanda Radke, who opposed the measure, says Referred Law 21 was much bigger than a carbon pipeline project.
“It was defeating a fake landowner bill of rights that would have trampled on our private property rights and stripped away our local control in favor for one out-of-state private company, Summit Carbon Solutions, and it would have set a precedent for many bad actors to come and trample on we, the people of South Dakota.”
Earlier this year, South Dakota lawmakers passed Senate Bill 201. VanderWal says it was created to ensure future projects could move forward in the state and the landowner bill of rights included “clarification of things a company would need to do in regard to communication with landowners, require an annual payment from the company to the landowner and county and protections outlining how companies were supposed to behave. And the real kicker in this was it gives the Public Utilities Commission the ability to supersede local zoning ordinances.”
He says many landowners felt this took away local control, causing a veto referendum, which put Referred Law 21 on the ballot.
But Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Lee Blank tells Brownfield the election outcome doesn’t affect the permitting process and the company will apply for a permit in South Dakota November 19.
“In South Dakota, the PUC has one year to make a ruling on the permit application.”
Blank remains optimistic about the proposed carbon pipeline project, which would span five states in the Upper Midwest, and he says South Dakota is key to the project.
“It’s our route to our sequestration sites, so it has a lot of relevance to us, but again, there’s a large piece of the ethanol industry there as well, which I think is important.”
However, Radke says South Dakota landowners haven’t forgotten how they were treated early in the project when the company bullied landowners and invasively surveyed.
“A tiger doesn’t change its stripes and the same people are still involved that were in the original that beat up on these farmers and ranchers,” says Radke.
Vanderwal agrees the company could focus on redeveloping relationships with landowners. Blank says he’s been trying to improve the situation in the last year.
“We’ve moved our teams to South Dakota to get to know the landowners, live and work in their communities, understand their concerns and then, to work on a route that’s most acceptable to the landowners in South Dakota,” he says. “We’re now up to 8,000 route changes on our route.”
Blank says it’s important to get the carbon pipeline project accomplished to add value to ethanol and pave the way for an important step-change in agriculture.
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One of the biggest winners: South Dakota landowners, DEFEAT of RL21! Proper name: “Summit Carbon Solutions Bill of Rights”!
Scott, how much are they paying you? Would have to be brain dead to think this was a good bill!