The chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission has recused herself from any siting decisions on the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline.
The project is designed to capture CO2 emissions from ethanol plants in the Midwest. That carbon will be sequestered in North Dakota.
Summit has submitted an application to the PSC for the pipeline.
Julie Fedorchak said she and her husband own land on Oliver County – and a year ago, they signed a contract with Summit to store CO2 on their land. She told her fellow Commissioners she wants to avoid any perceived conflict of interest in the case.
"The company has pledged to have as much as 100 percent of the easements required for the pipeline project secured voluntarily," Fedorchak said. "They were nowhere near that amount, in the application filed with the Commission."
Fedorchak said she supports her PSC colleagues, if they want to refrain from making a decision on that project until there is a more sizable amount of easements received voluntarily.
In a statement, Summit said it has easement agreements for more than 51 percent of the proposed pipeline route, and has secured 85 percent of the proposed sequestration area — 130,000 acres.
Fedorchak also said carbon capture is an emerging and significant new industry.
"Carbon capture and storage is a really important tool for allowing the future use and development of fossil fuels, while also meeting some of the environmental goals that so many in this world think need to be achieved," Fedorchak said. "I have high hopes for North Dakota to find a way to be a leader in this. We have incredible opportunities."
Summit said the investment in North Dakota will be around $900 million.
