Defying the odds: Meet the attorney for 1,000 clients who beat two pipeline companies

Nov 3, 2023 | Actions

Brian Jorde said most people didn’t think he or his clients had much of a chance to stop a pair of carbon dioxide pipelines after the plans were announced two years ago.

“‘You all are a nuisance. We all know this is getting permitted.’ That has been the attitude of these pipelines since day one, and here we are,” Jorde said.

In September, with Jorde representing more than 1,000 affected landowners, the Public Utilities Commission rejected permit applications from both of the companies proposing carbon pipelines in the state.

Both projects carried multi-billion-dollar price tags. Project backers sought to capture carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol plants in multiple states and transport it in liquefied form to be “sequestered” at an underground storage site. Tax credits are available from the federal government for every metric ton of sequestered carbon dioxide, as an incentive to prevent emissions of the heat-trapping greenhouse gas.

Senate leader berates PUC voter over Summit Carbon Solution decision

Oct 26, 2023 | Actions

Sen. Schoenbeck sent texts to Treasurer Josh Haeder criticizing his vote on the Summit pipeline

South Dakota’s highest-ranking state Senator is not happy about a decision by the state’s Public Utilities Commission to deny a permit to Summit Carbon Solutions, and he let at least one of the state officials who stood in the way of the project hear about it.

Disclosures by the Public Utilities Commission made Thursday relating to the carbon sequestration pipeline company’s hearing last month before the PUC revealed correspondence between Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck and South Dakota Treasurer Josh Haeder that took a heated turn.

In a series of text messages between the two on Sept. 14, three days after Summit’s route permit was unanimously rejected by the PUC, the Watertown Republican accused Haeder of being anti-ethanol and said that he was no longer a friend.

“U anti ethanol (SIC) people need to be out of public office. Bad for South Dakota,” Schoenbeck wrote before adding in a follow-up message, “Don’t call me friend. My friends have spines.”