South Dakota House lawmakers are advancing a bill that prohibits liquid carbon dioxide pipeline companies from using eminent domain to complete its projects.
Canton Republican Karla Lems said South Dakota should be more like Minnesota—which prohibits eminent domain for carbon pipelines.
“And guess what, they are getting it done. How do they do that? They treat people right and they make a deal,” Lems said. “A willing buyer. A willing seller.”
Carbon pipelines can secure federal tax credits by capturing carbon dioxide, liquify it to keep it from reaching the atmosphere.
Critics of the law see pipeline as critical to the future of ethanol and corn prices.
Officials with Summit Carbon Solutions, a company that hopes to run a liquid carbon dioxide pipeline through South Dakota, has not responded to whether the bill would affect their new proposed route.
It passed the House 49 to 19. It now heads to the state Senate.
