Hearings set for Summit CO2 underground storage wells

North Dakota regulators have set hearing dates to review the Summit Carbon Solutions application for underground carbon dioxide storage wells, the end point for a carbon capture pipeline system connecting ethanol plants in five states. 

The Department of Mineral Resources has set hearings for June 11 and 12. The meetings are at 9 a.m. each day at the North Dakota Oil & Gas Division, 1000 E. Calgary Ave., Bismarck. The public can listen live through the department’s YouTube channel. Summit’s applications can be found on the Mineral Resources website. 

The underground storage area is at the intersection of Oliver, Mercer and Morton counties. 

Summit has been negotiating easement agreements in the storage area and this month held meetings with landowners. 

“We’re over 90% in the storage area of easements that we need,” Summit CEO Lee Blank told the North Dakota Monitor. 

The application will need the approval of the North Dakota Industrial Commission, comprised of Gov. Doug Burgum, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. 

North Dakota PSC sets Summit carbon pipeline hearings

In almost all states, an application for what is known as a Class VI well would have to be approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. 

North Dakota in 2018 became the first state to win approval from the EPA to issue its own Class VI permits. 

North Dakota has issued other permits for underground storage of CO2, including two ethanol plants. 

A map of the Summit plan shows three injection points for the carbon dioxide. 

The Summit project has grown in recent months to more than 50 ethanol plants in five states, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. North Dakota has one plant committed to the project, Tharaldson Ethanol at Casselton. 

Public Service Commission hearings on the pipeline portion of the project are to begin Monday in Mandan.