VIEWPOINT | Too much at stake to allow carbon pipeline in South Dakota
Guest column by Rep. John Mills
As predicted, CO2 pipelines have been one of the biggest topics this legislative session. I have studied CO2 pipelines for two years and firmly believe we don’t want this. Here is why.
First, this is Washington, D.C. forcing something on us that we don’t need – and using money they don’t have. The lucrative federal tax credits Congress included as part of the 2022 “Inflation Reduction Act,” benefits only the wealthiest corporations and ratchets up inflation. We have felt the inflation effect already. Building dangerous CO2 pipelines that no one needs, will only make it worse.
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In South Dakota, Summit Carbon Solutions (SCS), whose investors include multi-billion-dollar foreign corporations, is spending millions. They have flooded the media, saying CO2 pipelines are necessary for the success of agriculture and our economy. That is a lie. In addition to spending millions on misleading advertising, SCS has hired 13 lawyers and lobbyists who roam the halls in Pierre, bending ears, twisting arms and wining and dining many. They make our Capitol feel more like D.C. than South Dakota.
Second, CO2 in a concentrated form is dangerous. It is an asphyxiant currently used to kill pigs in Sioux Falls and turkeys in Huron. Because it is heavier than air and displaces oxygen, it will kill people, too. A rupture of a 24-inch CO2 pipeline in February 2020 sent dozens of people to the emergency room and hobbled emergency response. The story is chilling and includes descriptions of people lying on the ground and in cars, foaming at the mouth, or disoriented and walking around like it was “the zombie apocalypse.” An internet search for CO2 and Satartia, Mississippi, will yield the stories you can read yourself. Even though pipeline valves were closed within 10 minutes of the rupture, isolating a 9-mile section of pipe, deadly concentrated CO2 spewed for over four hours, digging a frozen crater and creating a massive cloud that hugged the ground and moved far outside of the anticipated danger zone.
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