By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – With one motion, Minnehaha County Commissioner Dean Karsky put an end to a “two-year” debate on a methane capture natural gas facility near Baltic.
While not a topic for two years in duration, the issue began in November of 2021 when the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the project for Northern Natural Gas and Brightmark to capture methane from cow manure produced at three area dairies and incorporate it in current natural gas pipes.
Although no one brought up any opposition when it was proposed to the planning commission, neighbors David and Nicole Wirkus soon retained attorney Reece Almond of Davenport and Evans in Sioux Falls to appeal the decision to the Minnehaha County Commission on Dec. 21.
As reported previously, that did happen, and commissioners said they were all ready to vote to uphold the decision of the planning commission when deputy state’s attorney Eric Bogue advised them to wait.
Almond brought up that Northern Natural Gas had no standing to apply for a conditional use as a public utility, since, by their own admission to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in the past, they were not a “public utility.”
At that time, Jason Sutton, the attorney with Northern Natural Gas, said Almond was being very selective in his reading of the original brief, as it referred to a state vs. federal issue.
However, it seemed Bogue wanted to look at the issue more to possibly avoid trouble down the road, and the decision on the appeal was deferred to the Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 meeting.
And at that meeting, Sutton went into great detail in explaining the purpose behind the original argument.
He said it involved a time when Northwestern Public Service decided to stop providing natural gas service to 197 rural customers.
According to Sutton, the SDPUC wanted to force Northern Natural Gas to then supply those 197 customers, but the argument was not that they weren’t a public utility, but as an interstate company, they were a public utility under the authority of the Federal Regulatory Commission and not the South Dakota PUC.
Almond’s counter argument, made at the most recent commission meeting, was that if they weren’t subject to South Dakota law, they should not have standing to apply for a conditional use permit.
He did, however, suggest that the commission amend the zoning ordinance to allow for “natural gas companies” to apply.
Amending the current zoning ordinance could take months, along with several meetings, public input and possibly, more attorneys.
But Karsky simplified things when he took advantage of being able to amend the conditional use permit, itself.
He made the motion that the commission approve the permit, not as originally submitted for a public utility company, but for simple A-1 agricultural use, which undercut Almond’s argument of Northern Natural Gas not being a “public utility.”
“We are talking about methane – a by-product of dairies,” Karsky said. “It would be hard to argue that this isn’t a farm product.”
Commissioner Jeff Barth seconded Karsky’s motion and the commission voted 4-0 to approve the conditional use permit.
(Commissioner Jean Bender had recused herself to avoid a conflict of interest, as she is also an attorney with Davenport and Evans.)
Karsky had been the commission chairperson in 2021, and earlier, Commissioner Cindy Heiberger became the new chair.
And at the end of the meeting, Barth welcomed Karsky back to the ranks of a “regular commissioner.”
Because the chairperson is more focused on running fair and orderly meetings, the others have more freedom to speak out.
Reorganization
When this week’s meeting started, Heiberger was unanimously voted in as the new commission chair for 2022, while Commissioner Jean Bender was named vice-chair.
Heiberger last served as commission chair in 2017, and since then, she had been president of the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners.
Commissioners also approved an increase to their own salaries by 5%, from $29,765 to $31,253.
In supporting the increase both Barth and Karsky talked about keeping the salary up would help bring in more people to run for the commission.
Barth also pointed out that, unlike other county employees, commission members don’t get retirement or other benefits.
Karsky said that most of the commissioners also had other full-time jobs and being on the commission drastically cut into their abilities to do those jobs.
Also in reorganization business, the commission again unanimously approved having four official newspapers, the Garretson Gazette, Minnehaha Messenger, Brandon-Valley Journal and Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
South Dakota law requires counties to publish their public notices and minutes in as many publications as their county has, with the maximum being three.
But for the fourth year in a row, the Minnehaha County Commission has gone beyond what is required and publishes in four newspapers, something which new chair Heiberger emphasized.
“We only have to approve three (newspapers), but we do appreciate having all four, as there is good information in each.”
The commission will not meet next week, and their next meeting will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 18, on the second floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building, 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
