Hot Take: Don’t mess with our rights. Don’t mess with our land.
This sentiment seems to be spreading QUICKLY across multiple states impacted by these boondoggle Green New Deal CO2 capture pipeline scams.
Carbon pipelines have become a hotly debated issue across the Midwest, and South Dakota is no different. One poll, discussed this week, shows wide opposition to installation when eminent domain is involved.
The poll was conducted by Embold Research and surveyed registered voters across six Midwest states. Its findings showed 81 percent opposition to the use of eminent domain for privately-owned pipeline projects.
Emma Schmidt is organizing director of the Bold Alliance, an anti-pipeline organization. She said this poll suggests deep opposition.
“It crosses partisan and demographic lines,” Schmitt said. “We did find voters with the highest level of awareness of eminent domain also showed the strongest level of opposition toward eminent domain abuse for private use.”
Three bills were passed during the last state legislative session seeking to regulate carbon pipelines in South Dakota. However, one bill, SB201, known as the “landowners bill of rights,” hasn’t escaped criticism from pipeline opponents. That includes Chase Jensen from Dakota Rural Action.
“65 percent of South Dakotans were found to oppose a new law, passed by our legislature, and successfully referred to the ballot in November by a group opposed to these projects,” Jensen said. “This bill was intentionally mistitled as a landowner’s bill of rights, although we know it’s truly a Summit Pipeline bill of rights.”
Proponents of the law argue it doesn’t make significant changes to eminent domain regulations, while opponents contend the bill doesn’t protect landowners.
Jensen said he’s confident the bill won’t survive the upcoming vote.
“The fact we have the bill on the ballot now and 65 percent of South Dakotans opposed to what it will do speaks volumes to how the vote will go in November,” Jensen said.
That bill is now listed as Referred Law 21.
Reporting from The Gazette in Iowa details a group of GOP lawmakers seek to overturn the CO2 pipeline approval. https://www.thegazette.com/state-government/capitol-notebook-iowa-gop-lawmakers-seek-to-overturn-carbon-pipeline-approval/
“Nearly 40 Iowa Republican lawmakers plan to ask federal courts to rule that state regulators’ recent approval of a carbon capture pipeline through Iowa was unconstitutional,” the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports.
“The group of lawmakers plans to announce their federal lawsuit during a news conference Wednesday in Charles City…“The group of Iowa Republican lawmakers, in a news release, called the pipeline project “illegal and unconstitutional” and the state panel’s approval “disastrous and dangerous” and “a clear violation of the rights of Iowa landowners.”The lawmakers say the pipeline project presents potential safety risks, and argue the state panel’s approval “prioritizes corporate interests in tax credits over the safety, property rights, and well-being of Iowa’s citizens.”The lawmakers said their legal argument will say the Iowa Utilities Commission’s approval was made without proper consideration of constitutional requirements or the “severe negative impact” the pipeline project will have on Iowa landowners and communities, and that safety concerns have been overlooked.
“The Iowa Utilities Commission’s approval of this project is a gross overstep of authority, trampling on the rights of our landowners and putting the safety of Iowans at risk,” said Iowa Rep. Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City and a leading member of the group, which is calling itself the Republican Legislative Intervenors. “This CO2 pipeline is not only unethical but unconstitutional, and we will not stand by while the safety of our citizens is jeopardized.”
North Dakota landowners who feel they were tricked or bullied into signing an easement agreement with Summit Carbon Solutions can appeal to the courts, according to staff for the Public Service Commission.
An overwhelming 82% of Illinois registered voters say they oppose private corporations’ use of eminent domain for their private carbon dioxide pipeline and sequestration projects; 89% think carbon capture and storage poses a serious risk of carbon dioxide leaks, potentially at lethal levels; and 71% oppose sequestering carbon under the Mahomet Aquifer, despite the passage of recent legislation regulating the practice, according to a new poll.
Read more: https://noillinoisco2pipelines.org/front-page/poll-results-eminent-domain-mahomet-aquifer/
Landowners in several Midwestern states, including Nebraska, have organized in opposition to a plan to use eminent domain to construct a carbon-capture pipeline,” Public News Service reports. “…A group called Bold Alliance recently surveyed registered voters in six states, and found 81% oppose corporations utilizing eminent domain for private projects.
Photo via The Bold Alliance
