North Dakota approves CO2 storage for Summit pipeline

North Dakota’s Industrial Commission approved a plan Thursday to accept millions of tons of carbon dioxide to be permanently stored underground against the wishes of some landowners in the storage area.

Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions plans to build a network of pipelines that gathers emissions from ethanol plants across five states. If built, the pipeline would end west of Bismarck, N.D., where three injection wells will pump the CO2 deep beneath private property into pore space — gaps and voids between the rocks.

Summit compensates landowners for use of their pore space, but an attorney for landowners questions the accuracy of the model used by Summit to estimate where the gas will go when pumped underground.

The Industrial Commission is composed of outgoing Gov. Doug Burgum, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, who approved the permits unanimously. Burgum has been nominated to be Interior Secretary by President-elect Donald Trump.

Thursday’s action by the Industrial Commission uses a North Dakota rule governing pore space called amalgamation. If at least 60 percent of the landowners in the area approve, the other 40 percent are forced to comply.

A lawsuit by the Northwest Landowners Association in North Dakota is already challenging the constitutionality of the amalgamation rule.

About 92 percent of landowners in the sequestration area for Summit are participating voluntarily. The state’s Department of Mineral Resources staff said landowners objecting to the project accounted for less than 2 percent of the acres. The CO2 would be injected into the Broom Creek Formation about 5,500 feet below ground level.

Summit estimates it will pump about 18 million tons of carbon dioxide into the storage area each year. The company will take advantage of federal tax credits — $85 per ton of CO2 stored — as an incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“These sequestration permits are the result of years of rigorous scientific study, engineering design, and input from regulators, landowners, and local leaders,” Wade Boeshans, executive vice president of Summit Carbon Solutions, said in a statement. “With these permits, we’re one step closer to providing vital infrastructure that benefits farmers, ethanol producers, and communities across the Midwest.”

The CO2 will come from 57 ethanol plants in five states — Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Summit Carbon Solutions has obtained pipeline permits in Iowa and North Dakota. Minnesota approved a short segment of the route Thursday.

Summit still needs a permit in South Dakota. Nebraska has no state agency that permits CO2 pipelines, so it must be approved by counties along the proposed route.

This article first appeared in the North Dakota Monitor.