Carbon Capture Pipeline Multimedia StoryLEAD: South Dakota, with a population density of 11 people per square mile, thrives on agriculture, tourism and healthcare. Agriculture isn’t just an industry—it’s the lifeblood, indispensable to the state’s economic vitality... VideoDate: April 26, 2024 AudioDate: April 26, 2024 WrittenBipartisan bill to end eminent domain for private gain fails calendar placement vote Date: February 23, 2024 Byline: Karli Healey Lead: South Dakota, with a population density of 11 people per square mile, thrives on agriculture, tourism and healthcare. Agriculture isn’t just an industry—it’s the lifeblood, indispensable to the state’s economic vitality. Nutgraph: Amid endless prairie grass swaying in the wind, a clash brews as private companies encroach on the agricultural heartland through the contentious use of eminent domain for pipeline construction. The pipeline proposals cut across multigenerational lands in numerous midwestern states, raising complex questions about land ownership, community well-being and the balance between private interests and the public good. Owner of Sioux Falls Community Chronicle Mike Zitterich, a prominent businessman in Sioux Falls automotive sales, defined eminent domain as the legal power of government to take private land for public use. Zitterich said this power is intended solely for public use, such as for roads or utilities. He cites article six section two of the state constitution, which protects citizens from being deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Zitterich shed light on his perspective on the forces behind the proposed pipelines, “They’ve got the politicians—all the governors in these states are all on board with them. They’ve got our federal people who are on board or won’t touch it,” said Zitterich, who claimed this suggests a conspiracy to deceive and steal land from people who have owned their land for centuries. A strange political coalition has emerged in the ongoing battle against eminent domain for private gain, as Lakota tribal nations join hands with white ranchers and farmers in an unlikely alliance. As both multigenerational farmland and tribal territory are at risk of eminent domain condemnation, these groups have united against the common threat of encroachment on their ancestral lands. NBC reports that farmers have long supported oil pipelines, due to the requirements for a farming operation. Spink County, S.D. landowner Ed Fischbach explained to NBC that farmers and ranchers are “realizing that maybe, maybe the Native Americans weren’t all wrong. Because it wasn’t just an issue about whether we needed something—it’s an issue of protecting the environment, protecting our land, and protecting your own rights.” Pennington Republican Party Chairman Amy Wagner of Rapid City said that the pipeline controversy is currently happening all over the country, “I know it’s in eastern South Dakota, it’s in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. I have a friend in Iowa who is battling these same companies.” Wagner explained that “if it happens in eastern South Dakota it can happen in western South Dakota, and if it happens in western South Dakota, it can happen anywhere.” She suggested money, not the public good, is the true motivation driving the carbon capture rush, “they try to tell you it’s for the greater good, but I’m not buying it.” Wagner said she thinks the decisions should be left to the local communities, “I think the state should stay out of it, unless they can do something positive, they need to just stay out of it and let the local people handle it.” South Dakota Freedom Caucus Executive Director Dustin Gawrylow from Bismark, N.D. said that if the state legislature was “truly interested in protecting private property rights, they would ban the use of eminent domain for private gain.” Gawrylow called carbon capture a “band-aid to offset the impacts of current industrial activity. At worst it is an environmental disaster waiting to happen if the pipeline breaks.” In high concentrations carbon dioxide is hazardous not only to human life, but also to animal and plant life, raising questions about not only private property rights but also the potential environmental consequences of pipeline construction and maintenance. Gawrylow claimed that “for some reason the federal government and state governments are allowing this pipeline to be proposed without environmental impact studies equivalent to what are required on oil pipelines,” He suggested that the pipeline companies, Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2, intentionally avoided tribal lands to avoid a repeat of the recent oil pipeline showdown between the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Standing Rock Reservation in 2017. Eminent domain and carbon capture pipelines have been a hotly debated topic throughout the course of the state legislature’s 2024 session. House Bill 1219, which would prohibit the exercise of eminent domain for the construction of pipelines carrying carbon oxide, failed to pass through the House Commerce and Energy committee by one vote. After being deferred to the 41st day, a term describing a graveyard of bills that died in committee, it was resurrected through a smoke-out—a procedural move to revive a bill for further consideration. By only four votes, a motion from the floor to place HB 1219 on the calendar, failed despite garnering bipartisan support. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 201, which deals with taxation on pipeline companies has cruised through the Senate and is scheduled for a hearing in House Commerce and Energy. In attendance during the HB 1219 calendar vote, the author observed the proceedings firsthand. Information on the bill's progress and outcomes was cross-referenced with the official legislative website (sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/25214) to ensure accuracy and completeness. The battle over eminent domain and the construction of carbon capture pipelines is far from over. The complex struggle between environmental impacts, private property rights and economic concerns does not conclude with the decisions made in state legislative chambers this session. It's an ongoing narrative, and the pages are still being written by the voices of people defending their land and preserving their way of life. GraphicsDate: April 19, 2024
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