By: Joshua Haiar,
SD Searchlight
A cooperative that owns four ethanol plants has made a second $400,000 contribution to support a Nov. 5 ballot question about carbon dioxide pipelines.
Glacial Lakes Energy owns plants in Watertown, Mina, Aberdeen and Huron. The money went to the Vote Yes for a Strong South Dakota ballot question committee, which supports Referred Law 21.
The cooperative has now contributed a total of $800,000 to the campaign. Its latest $400,000 contribution came Friday, according to a supplemental campaign finance report. An earlier report disclosed a previous $400,000 contribution.
There are no limits on contributions to ballot question committees in South Dakota.
Referred Law 21 is a response to controversial plans by Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions to capture some of the carbon dioxide emitted by Midwest ethanol plants — including in eastern South Dakota — and transport it via pipeline to North Dakota for underground storage.
The law would establish financial and other protections for landowners and counties affected by pipelines. It requires pipeline companies to cover damages, mandates CO2 pipelines be buried at least 4 feet deep, and compels companies to share rupture modeling data. The law also says counties can collect up to $1 per linear foot of pipeline for property tax relief and road repairs. Supporters describe the law as a “bill or rights” for landowners.
Ethanol producers view carbon pipelines as crucial to their survival. Glacial Lakes and other ethanol producers have now contributed a total of $2.7 million in support of the ballot measure. Other major contributors include Sioux Falls-based biofuels producer POET, as well as Gevo, a company aiming to produce ethanol-based jet fuel in Lake Preston.
Besides the four plants that Glacial Lakes Energy owns, it also has ownership stakes in other plants, including a 16% interest in Minnesota-based Granite Falls Energy, according to the Glacial Lakes website.
South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem is an investor in Granite Falls Energy, according to the last financial interest statement she filed with the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office. Noem is also a former investor in Glacial Lakes, but her spokesman told South Dakota Searchlight last year that she no longer has that investment.
Noem signed the bill adopted by the Legislature last winter that citizen opponents petitioned onto the ballot, which is now known as Referred Law 21. Glacial Lakes and Granite Falls are both partners in the Summit project.
Opponents of Referred Law 21 say it requires local governments to prove their restrictions on pipelines are reasonable, rather than requiring pipeline companies to prove them unreasonable. They describe that as an attack on local control.
Pipeline opponents also have concerns about potentially hazardous pipeline leaks and Summit’s likely use of eminent domain, which is a legal process to obtain land access from unwilling landowners. Referred Law 21 does not address eminent domain.
Opponent groups have raised about $224,000 for their campaign, mostly from individuals and farm and ranch corporations.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence.
