WATCH: North Dakota Supreme Court Hearing on Summit CO2 Pipeline Survey Access to Landowner Property

WATCH: North Dakota Supreme Court Hearing (12/18/23)

The North Dakota Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023 in an appeal of several landowners’ cases who refused to allow Summit Carbon Solutions access to their property to survey for the company’s proposed multi-state CO2 pipeline project.

Landowners are represented in the case by attorney Brian Jorde, with the North Dakota Easement Team and Nebraska-based Domina Law Group.

Jorde told the North Dakota Monitor the district court ruling puts no limits on Summit’s access to private property. “They can just come on your land 24/7, 365. No notice, no restriction, no payments,” Jorde told the Monitor. The argument from the landowners is that North Dakota law authorizes a “taking” in violation of the takings clause in the North Dakota Constitution. They say the district court’s order, including its rejection of reasonable limitations on Summit, authorizes a taking. A taking requires a court order and compensation, set by a jury, for the landowner,” the Monitor reports.

“Landowners have cited concerns about pipeline safety, damage to farmland and reduced property values. And in Malloy’s case, limitations on future development,” the Monitor reports.

“The Northwest Landowners Association supports Malloy in a court filing. “The bottom line is that the district court misapplied the law,” the association said in its legal argument. “SCS’s playing fast and loose with the constitutional rights of the citizens of North Dakota should not be tolerated.”