Landowners score court victory in bid to stop carbon pipeline project

Supreme Court ruling reverses circuit court rulings, calls into question Summit Carbon Solutions as a common carrier eligible for eminent domain

A group of South Dakota landowners fighting to prevent a carbon pipeline from crossing their properties won a victory Thursday when the Supreme Court ruled the pipeline company has not demonstrated it has power to exercise eminent domain under state law.

The ruling, which encompassed seven different landowner lawsuits, reverses circuit court decisions granting Summit Carbon Solutions the ability to survey private land for the pipeline route without permission from landowners. The circuit courts determined that SCS had that power under state law to do so.

But the South Dakota Supreme Court in a unanimous decision ruled that the cases were in the “early phase of litigation” when the circuit courts granted SCS summary judgement, and that the rulings came before SCS demonstrated that it was a common carrier eligible for eminent domain rights.