Webinar (10/12): Explaining Federal Pipeline Safety Agency PHMSA’s Letter Re: Local Authority Over CO2 Pipelines

• WHAT: Webinar: Explaining Federal Pipeline Safety Agency PHMSA’s Letter Re: Local Authority Over CO2 Pipelines
• WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 12, 6:00 p.m. CT
• WHO:
  • SPEAKERS
  • Paul Blackburn, Attorney, Bold Alliance
  • Bill Caram, Executive Director, Pipeline Safety Trust

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on Sept. 15, 2023 sent a letter to Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures, in response to numerous inquiries it received about the companies’ proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline projects that would criss-cross the U.S. Midwest.

PHMSA said it sent the letter in response to specific inquiries “regarding the ability of federal, state, and local governments to affect the siting, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of carbon dioxide pipelines,” going on to say that, “as was the case in 2014, PHMSA continues to support and encourage all three levels of government—federal, state, and local working collaboratively to ensure the nation’s pipeline systems are constructed and operated in a manner that protects public safety and the environment.”

Crucially, PHMSA’s letter reiterates the fact that “the responsibility for siting new carbon dioxide pipelines rests largely with the individual states and counties through which the pipelines will operate and is governed by state and local law.”

Despite PHMSA’s clear statement, CO2 pipeline companies continue to challenge county ordinances that were passed by elected officials in multiple states, in an effort to protect their communities and lives from these proposed hazardous pipeline projects.

Our webinar panel provided a detailed explanation of what is contained in the Sept. 15 letter from PHMSA to companies proposing to build and operate CO2 pipelines, and the implications the letter has for ongoing organizing in counties to enact similar ordinances — as well as the pending federal lawsuits where counties have been sued by the companies.

Recently, we have seen major victories by landowners and Pipeline Fighters at the state level, where permit applications for both Summit and Navigator have been rejected by authorities in North Dakota and South Dakota — where those companies are now in some cases going back to try to negotiate with the counties that passed these ordinances, while at the same time some counties are defending against federal lawsuits filed against them by the pipeline companies, that are eating up taxpayer resources.

Paul Blackburn’s slides from the webinar:

See pages (48-68) in the document below for Model County Ordinance language for CO2 pipelines: