The Stanton County, NE. Commission recently denied a conditional use permit to Summit Carbon Solutions to build a pipeline that would ultimately link fifty ethanol plants with a disposal site in North Dakota.
The 3-0 vote was based on the need for more information on “health risks” and foreign investment in the project.
Apparently 90 percent of landowners in Stanton County have signed easement agreements based on an understanding of the issues and actually support the project.
Based on opposition in states other than Nebraska, Summit has postponed implementation of the project until 2026. The $5.5 billion, 2,000-mile pipeline would transit areas of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and both Dakotas.
It is ironic that farmers in these corn-producing states who benefit directly from ethanol and support the questionable claims of environmental benefits, are unwilling to allow the pipeline project that would reduce the considerable quantity of carbon dioxide vented to the atmosphere by ethanol plants.