PSC sets Monday meeting on Summit hearing schedule, Burleigh petition

North Dakota pipeline regulators will meet Monday to discuss a schedule for hearings in the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project. 

The Public Service Commission agenda also includes a request to reconsider an earlier decision on pipeline zoning ordinances. The meeting is at 11 a.m. in the Capitol.

Summit Carbon Solutions has applied for a permit for a pipeline to transport carbon emissions from ethanol plants in five states to North Dakota. The carbon would be stored underground in Mercer and Oliver counties. 

The PSC last year denied Summit’s application, but the Iowa-based company asked for a rehearing and has made changes to its route, including a wider berth around Bismarck, to address the concerns of the three-person commission. 

Summit says the pipeline will benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, will help ethanol plants remain competitive and benefit farmers who supply the ethanol plants with corn. 

The project relies on taking advantage of federal tax credits for carbon storage.

The project has recently expanded to include more than 50 ethanol plants but only one of the plants is in North Dakota — Tharaldson Ethanol at Casselton. 

Emmons County to appeal PSC pipeline ruling in Summit case

But the project has been met with some resistance from landowners and county governments. 

Emmons and Burleigh counties, on the main trunk of the pipeline, passed ordinances with tighter restrictions on where the pipeline could run. 

Summit argued that North Dakota zoning laws preempts those ordinances. The PSC sided with Summit on that question. 

But Emmons County is challenging the PSC ruling in court and Burleigh County petitioned the PSC to reconsider its order. That reconsideration is part of Monday’s agenda. 

The agenda also includes a discussion for a schedule and location for the rehearing on the permit. 

The original round of hearings in 2023 were held in multiple counties along the route, often lasting for several hours. 

The controversial project has fallen behind its original schedule. Summit in 2021 said it had planned to begin construction in 2023 and be operational by 2024 but it has yet to obtain the needed pipeline route permits.