by Dan Burns

Dec 22, 2024, 11:00 AM

The Minnesota PUC will apparently approve anything

To wit:

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved the state’s first carbon capture pipeline — but only after construction of other parts of the multi-state line is underway.

The Summit Carbon Solutions project would pipe liquid carbon dioxide from ethanol plants in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota to sequester it deep underground near Bismarck. The PUC approval (December 12) covers a 28-mile pipeline from near Fergus Falls to the North Dakota border. Other Minnesota sections are planned along the 2,500 miles of pipeline in the full project proposal.

There have been concerns raised about the safety of carbon pipelines. Some environmental organizations have raised concerns about pipeline ruptures, which could hurt local water supplies and be an asphyxiant to humans. A rupture of a carbon pipe in Mississippi in 2020 hospitalized 45 people.
(MPR)

Yes, there are safety concerns. There’s also the fact that this entire project is little more than grifting greenwashing. But since Big Oil loves that greenwashing part government funding will probably continue.

There have been no new developments in South Dakota that I’ve seen news of since voters there blocked the company’s hopes of using eminent domain. A contingent in North Dakota is attempting to reverse that state’s approval, as is happening in Iowa. I wish them all well.