Don’t pay any attention to disingenuous advertising.
Killing the carbon pipeline will HURT EVERY South Dakotan. That’s the ad that’s running in my newspaper, sure. Space that has been bought and paid for. That’s not to say I support it in any way.
Let me turn that statement on its head for a sec though, killing the carbon pipeline will keep South Dakotans safe, as opposed to killing them in a Carbon Dioxide leak.
We’ve reported a bunch about this issue, but the fundamental facts haven’t changed. First, a leak of these proposed pipelines could kill South Dakotans as well as poisoning the surrounding farmland and poisoning the surrounding water supply.
Then let’s talk about landowners’ rights. The reason the carbon pipeline companies are proposing easements instead of just buying the land in question is because they don’t want to get their hands dirty. If there is a leak, then they don’t actually own said land and so aren’t liable for damages. They’re paying a one-time payment for perpetual use of your land. When these companies no longer exist, who has that easement document and what can they do with it?
The people who own these carbon capture companies are some of the wealthiest people in the world and include foreign interests. They simply do not care about your health and safety and they certainly don’t give two figs about your family farm and property rights. They’re looking to score a quick couple billion in tax credits and aren’t really interested in sharing any of that sweet cash with anyone who actually lives and works here.
Eminent domain is being used for private gain here, these companies taking advantage of South Dakotas laws to bully their way through our legal system and state infrastructure, including such tactics as filing condemnation procedures and attempting land foreclosures on those farmers who won’t play ball. Dirty tactics doesn’t begin to describe it. If you want my opinion, if you own land in the state, you should call your local legislators and tell them support the movement to make reforms at the state level.
SD Ethanol has signed onto these pipeline projects for the tax benefit, and that’s the tacit argument they’re making here, that it’ll hurt farm prices and ethanol production if the pipeline doesn’t get built. That argument doesn’t really hold water.
In recent interviews, the carbon people said the quiet part out loud, that they’re worried about the dawn of electric vehicles affecting the price of gas, and perhaps they’re right to be worried. Worried somebody is going to challenge their monopoly on a product everyone uses. As if economic diversity and good old-fashioned American ingenuity and business competition were a bad thing. But even with EV making great strides, it’ll be a while yet before electric cars are in every home.
Ethanol, by its very nature, allows us to do more with less gasoline and as more and more cars are able to use ethanol fuels, demand for it will go up, not down. And if these pipelines get built, will the average South Dakotan see the price of ethanol go down because of it? I sincerely doubt that, since gas prices are based on what the market will bear, rather than how much it costs to make.
The South Dakota PUC unanimously rejected these proposals this past summer, but rather than adapt and try to play by the rules our county commissioners across the land are trying to set for them, these companies have not fundamentally changed their outlook. My opinion is that South Dakotans should let these people know that if they want to do business in our state, they need to play by our rules and do things our way. They need to abide by restrictions set by our county commissioners and this session, our legislature should close loopholes in the law that have let them bully SD farmers into submission. The landowners should have final say on what is done on their property, and our laws should protect the people and their rights.
So, these ads you’re seeing are disingenuous in the extreme. They’re banking on the fact that there is a sucker born every minute, don’t buy it. It’s garbage.
So yeah, killing these carbon pipelines might just benefit all South Dakotans, by you know, keeping their lives and livelihoods safe.
-G. Moritz, editor
