South Dakota lawmakers debating 10 bills this session. ‘The core of the issue is about taking people’s lands.’
Some of the most contentious, emotionally charged debates during the 2024 South Dakota legislative session have been about property rights and whether a private company can use eminent domain to force a carbon dioxide pipeline onto land against the owner’s will.
Climate change tyranny does NOT belong in South Dakota! The SD legislature will be considering two bills this week, and we need to communicate the needs of the citizens who live here. Write your SD legislators TODAY to vote NO on SB 201 to safeguard our ability to lead and govern ourselves close to home instead of caving to a big brother nanny state. Then tell them to vote YES on HB 1219 to protect our private property rights and to take eminent domain for private gain off the table. https://sdlegislature.gov/Legislators/Listing/69
A bill limiting the right of counties to regulate pipeline setbacks advanced out of a state Senate committee on Thursday morning.
Senate Bill 201 would bar counties from enacting local zoning rules strict enough to regulate gas or liquid pipelines out of existence, but would also allow counties to levy a per-foot surcharge on pipeline companies and codify certain landowner protections for things like disrupted drain tile.
The bill passed the Senate Commerce and Energy Committee on a 7-2 vote, taken before a packed house of supporters and opponents, the latter of whom applauded loudly enough after one round of testimony to cause the chair to call for order.
The crowd and its occasional emotion were animated by one of the most controversial topics to whisk through the Capitol halls both this year and last. In 2023, there were two carbon dioxide pipeline projects in the works for South Dakota, both of which would transport carbon produced by ethanol plants to sites in other states for underground sequestration. Doing so would open the door to billions in federal tax credits for the pipeline companies and their partners.
🇩🇪 Thousands and thousands of farmers, truckers and other hard working citizens took to the streets of Berlin today to remind their government and the globalists of one simple thing:
“We are The People and we are taking back control.”
This is just the beginning.
🎥: @UNCOFILM pic.twitter.com/HVeFTcDNvi
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) January 15, 2024
Tractors, cars, and trucks blockading the “Avenue of June 17” leading up to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Thousands of farmers, truckers, tradesmen, and other hardworking German citizens have descended on the capital of Berlin to paralyze the city, with many vowing not to leave until the Left-Green government steps down, that has run Europe’s biggest economy into the ground.
House Bill 1198 seeks to change the nomination process for key elected offices in South Dakota — Lt Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State. If passed, HB1198 will introduce primary elections for these seats. This will lead to high dollar donors funding campaigns and candidates, taking the vote out of the hands of your local elected precinct friends and neighbors at State Convention.
North Dakota officials were pulling no punches during an informational session held in Bismarck last month, highlighting the importance of the Summit Carbon pipeline to both the sustainable aviation fuel market and enhanced oil recovery efforts in the Bakken.
During a December 20, 2023, BEK TV special report that broadcast a Friends of Ag and Energy public information session on the Summit Carbon pipeline, held at Bismarck State College’s National Energy Center of Excellence, Governor Doug Burgum said, “Sustainable aviation fuel, if you want to call it the Saudi Arabia of sustainable aviation fuel, it’s going to happen somewhere between North Dakota and Iowa and in between, the corn belt.”
Kathleen Neset, a geologist and owner of Neset Consulting Service Inc. who moderated the panel, spoke after Burgum, stating the following at the outset:
We’re also going to talk about CCUS: carbon capture utilization and storage. And the utilization part of it is – typically, we look to the future. As the technology comes forward, we will use the CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. And how we built that legacy fund, and how we elevated all of us here in North Dakota, was through the production of oil. Now if we can do that, and as the governor was talking about, raising a billion barrels, one more percent, two more percent, five more percent of that oil produced safely, then we elevate all of North Dakotans.
Those comments appear to be at odds with previous statements by Summit Carbon chief operating officer James “Jimmy” Powell in rebuttal testimony submitted to the Iowa Utilities Board on August 21, 2023 (p. 6):
Q. Certain Intervenors have mentioned the use of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (“EOR”). Does Summit intend to ship CO2 for use in EOR?
A. No. Summit does not intend to ship CO2 for use in EOR. At present, all parties intending to ship on Summit’s pipeline system intend to permanently sequester the CO2 being shipped.