What You Need to Know About Summit’s North Dakota PSC Public Hearings

 

The North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) is getting ready to begin the reconsideration hearing process for the Summit carbon pipeline. If approved, the hazardous pipeline would cross 332 miles of the state and dump up to 18 million metric tons of supercritical CO2underground in North Dakota each year.

In August 2023, the PSC denied Summit’s original application to construct the pipeline because: 

“SCS failed to meet its burden of proof to show the location, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Project will produce minimal adverse effects on the environment and upon the welfare of the citizens of North Dakota.”

Further noting,

“SCS failed to meet its burden of proof to show the location, construction, and operation of the Project are compatible with environmental preservation and efficient use of resources.”

Specifically, Summit did not appropriately address impacts to cultural resources, property values, future development, and geological instability. Summit also failed to answer landowner concerns nor did they prove that they could not utilize a less harmful route.

However, despite this long list of deficiencies, Summit quickly filed a Petition for Reconsideration which the PSC granted in a 2-1 vote. By taking this approach, Summit was able to avoid restarting the application process from scratch. Instead, they have been able to submit further evidence to address the identified shortcomings in their application. Once all evidence from both Summit and the public has been presented, the Commission will conduct a new vote to approve or deny the pipeline.

As part of the evidence gathering process, three hearings have been scheduled between April 22nd, 2024 and June 4, 2024. Each hearing will focus on different locations of the proposed pip

eline. However, if you are an affected landowner and you cannot make the hearing date centered on your county, the Commission will likely allow you to testify at one of the other hearings. 

What to expect

Parties to the case, as well as the general public, will be presenting testimony. You can see the full list of potential witnesses offered by the parties on the docket. 

The hearings are intended to answer three key questions that Summit failed to properly address the first time around:

1. Will construction, operation, and maintenance of the facility at the proposed location produce minimal adverse effects on the environment and upon the welfare of the citizens of North Dakota?
2. Is the proposed facility compatible with environmental preservation and the efficient use of resources? 
3. Will construction, operation, and maintenance of the facility at the proposed location minimize adverse human and environmental impact while ensuring continuing system reliability and integrity and ensuring that energy needs are met and fulfilled in an orderly and timely fashion? 

 

If you intend to testify in opposition to the pipeline project, explaining why the Summit project still does not qualify as having minimally adverse effects is important. You can help the commissioners conclude the project is still unwanted, unnecessary, and unconstitutional by sharing any number of issues we know exist with this project –from problems with the easement terms to the company’s lack of transparency or accountability. You can dispute Summit’s claims that the project would benefit the environment and the economy. Landowners should feel empowered to explain why their property is not suitable for a hazardous carbon pipeline. This is your chance to have your voice heard – so whatever you have to say, say it.

If you are an impacted landowner, you have the right to obtain legal counsel to represent you. The Domina Law Group and lead attorney Brian Jorde have been hired by landowners to represent them in state proceedings and for negotiating standard easement terms if the proposed pipeline project is approved. For years, Domina Law Group and its lawyers have been representing landowners across the Midwest and around the county in eminent domain battles and pipeline fights. Visit ndeasement.org to learn more.

No matter what the Summit says, we know from experience that there is still plenty of time to stop Summit’s risky pipeline. This is far from a “done deal”— You have the power to protect our land, communities, and futures from the dangerous greed of Summit and their foreign investors by participating in the upcoming hearing process. 

 

WATCH: (2023) TESTIMONY FROM SUMMIT ND PSC PUBLIC HEARINGS