UPDATE 3/7/24 – Despite strong opposition from ranching and farming groups throughout the state, Governor Kristi Noem has signed carbon pipeline eminent domain legislation into law in South Dakota.
SB 201, the controversial South Dakota bill that overrides local regulations and landowner rights to clear the way for a carbon capture pipeline, has passed the state house. It is set to land on Governor Kristi Noem’s desk for signature. The last hope for private property rights in the Mount Rushmore State is a veto from the governor.
“It’s Not the South Dakota Way”
SB 201 has several functions related to the pipeline project including removing the ability of counties and townships to “establish setback rules for carbon pipelines within their borders.”
Proponents say SB 201 is essential to the state’s ethanol and corn industries. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” Senator Casey Crabtree said on the Senate floor, adding that the bill “fosters a brighter future for all of South Dakota.”
But opponents point out that SB 201 erases local control in favor of corporate interest through aggressive, streamlined eminent domain. Unlike a classic eminent domain case involving a public utility such as a road or power line, the pipeline transporting carbon dioxide meant to be permanently sequestered offers no benefit to anyone except the few who stand to financially gain.
“I hear from my voters: ‘no eminent domain for private gain,'” said Representative Karla Lems. “And the other thing is, we are a very red state that is really bowing to the Green New Deal. Is that who we are as South Dakotans?”
The Devil’s in the Details
SB 201 is written to benefit one foreign-backed, privately-owned carbon capture pipeline company. It would allow the company, which has already sued 160 different landowners and a number of individual counties, to cleanly and efficiently override dissenting landowners on their way to building a pipeline through South Dakota.
The proposed 1300-mile carbon pipeline is set to run through several states, moving carbon dioxide from a number of ethanol and sustainable aviation fuel plants to an ultimate burial ground located in Illinois. There are other avenues for sequestering this carbon but corporations favor the pipeline option. Backers hope to lower their carbon intensity (CI) scores in order to seize on certain green incentives.
“You Cannot Make Money by Stepping on Your Neighbor’s Neck”
Representative Marty Overweg told the South Dakota House to vote no.
“What do I love about farming? I love its truth. There is truth in farming,” he told the House floor. “What the corporation is trying to sell is not truth, that carbon is hurting our climate. It’s not truth when they tell you that cows grazing in a field, nursing their calves, or you planting your crops is hurting our climate.”
“This will not save the family farm, this will kill the family farm,” he added. “Corporations are promising us wealth. I’m all for progress, but don’t hurt your neighbors or sacrifice your God-given rights as an American citizen while you do it.”
“South Dakota Has Fallen”
Agriculture columnist and South Dakota rancher Amanda Radke is also opposing SB 201.
Ms. Radke pointed out that there are only four other states that have similar bills and all are deep blue: California, Michigan, New York, and Illinois. In neighboring blue state Minnesota, a similar project involving over 200 miles of pipeline was implemented without eminent domain simply by working with willing landowner participants.
“If we don’t have private property rights in the state of South Dakota we cannot say we are the freest state in the nation. South Dakota has fallen,” Ms. Radke told Jim Mundorf in an episode of the Lonesome Lands podcast. She said she’s lost count of the phone calls from families harassed by corporate representatives trespassing on their land and attempting to intimidate them into a deal.
Backers are in a hurry to get this pipeline done in order to take advantage of 45Q tax credits. They are lobbying politicians to help force this through at the expense of landowners. Ms. Radke says she hopes this bill will meet its death on Governor Noem’s desk. Often depicted on horseback, Governor Noem is famously proud of her ranching roots. The governor is a rising star in the GOP, and rumored to be on President Donald Trump’s shortlist for the vice presidential nod in his 2024 bid.
“There is absolutely no way our freedom-loving governor, who believes in personal responsibility and running businesses and building communities and all of these great things that we hold dear in South Dakota, there’s absolutely no way Governor Kristi Noem could sign this piece of legislation,” Ms. Radke said.
Moment of Truth
There is still time before Friday, March 8 to act against SB 201:
- Sign the petition here.
- Email every member of the House and Senate and voice your opposition to SB 201.
- Call and email Governor Kristi Noem and urge her to veto these pipeline bills in any form.
