Landowners across several flyover states have been at odds with carbon pipeline companies for quite some time. Lawmakers in South Dakota are working to ease that tension.
They have passed several bills aimed at helping Summit Carbon Solutions start laying pipe, while at the same time protecting landowners. Summit has been working to get work started in Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska, but they have felt a large amount of pushback from residents.
The company says they have already secured three-quarters of the land needed to build in South Dakota.
The new bills out of their statehouse would require pipeline operators to pay a $500 access fee to survey land. Counties would also be able to collect $1 per foot of constructed pipeline. They would hold pipeline companies liable for damages and would require lines to be at least 4 feet deep.
It would also limit easements to five years if companies cannot get the needed permits, and they would allow landowners access to surveys with the ability to contest them in court.
