FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SOUTH DAKOTA LAWMAKERS CALL FOR SPECIAL SESSION TO PROTECT LANDOWNERS’ PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS FROM EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE BY PRIVATE COMPANIES.

Today, state lawmakers from all across the state answered the call of South Dakota landowners, farmers, and ranchers and began circulating a petition for a special session to protect landowners’ private property rights from being seized without consent by private companies in the name of “eminent domain.” Landowners and farmers from across South Dakota recently called for a special session at a highly-attended landowner rights rally at the State Capitol Rotunda in Pierre, SD. The petition for a special session comes in response to carbon sequestration pipeline companies (one of which, Summit Carbon Solutions, is backed in part by foreign investors including China) that are using the power of eminent domain to seize and use South Dakota farmland without landowner consent. “It’s time. The clock is ticking for South Dakota landowners,” said Representative Karla Lems, co-sponsor of the special session petition. “The ‘governed’ do not consent to having their land molested by out of state, for-profit companies with foreign investors. May there be men and women of courage who are willing to call a special session. This affront on freedom must be stopped.” The petition will need to be signed by at least 2/3rds of the members of the South Dakota House of Representatives and 2/3rds of the members of the South Dakota Senate in order to call a special session. If the petition is successful, the legislature will meet to consider legislation regarding “legislative proposals on eminent domain, land property rights, and carbon sequestration pipelines,” according to the language of the petition.