Noem accused of asking Senate to kill pipeline bill

Calls for special session follow governor's stated opposition to eminent domain powers for carbon pipeline companies

(Austin Goss/The Dakota Scout)

Gov. Kristi Noem is facing pressure to call a special session on the use of eminent domain in South Dakota just a day after planting her flag on the side of landowners and lawmakers butting heads with a carbon pipeline company.

But the odds of legislators taking up any bills to reform forced-land taking statutes here before next January are long, due to a lack of support in the state Senate and questions about whether the Republican governor’s newly stated opposition to the use of eminent domain is genuine.

Noem this week weighed in on the debate around whether Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 should have the ability to force unwilling landowners to open up access to their land for the project. Both companies are seeking state permits to construct carbon pipelines through eastern South Dakota, and it was Noem’s first public comments on the issue.

“I’m with landowners, and I always have been,” Noem said before noting the Legislature in February killed a series of bills that many of those aggrieved landowners had packed into the state Capitol to support.

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