A Nebraska-based company said Friday that it was canceling plans to build a carbon dioxide-trapping pipeline from one end of the Midwest to the other, calling the failed project "challenging" in the face of stiff opposition.
One of two carbon dioxide pipelines that would cross into Minnesota has folded
The Nebraska-based company cited regulatory uncertainty in South Dakota and Iowa for canceling the Midwest-wide project.
October 20, 2023 at 4:35PM
Navigator C02's so-called Heartland Greenway was until Friday one of two greenhouse gas-ferrying pipelines that would connect ethanol plants in Minnesota and other states.
But those plans are now scuttled.
"Given the unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes involved, particularly in South Dakota and Iowa, the company has decided to cancel its pipeline project," Navigator said in a statement from Omaha.
The company had announced plans to run the pipeline to an ethanol plant in Minnesota's Martin County, just over the Iowa border. While Navigator officials had reached out to Minnesota landowners around Fairmont, the company had not formally applied for a permit with state regulators.
Navigator had applied for a permit in neighboring South Dakota, but that state's public utilities commission — after a lengthy public hearing — rejected the application early this fall.
"As good stewards of capital and responsible managers of people, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Heartland Greenway project," Navigator CEO Matt Vining said in a statement.
He said the company was disappointed it would not be able to provide services to its customers.
Among Navigator's announced customers were fuel company Valero and Poet, a Sioux Falls-based biofuels company. Industry experts have sought carbon-capture technologies, such as pipelines, to create fuels with fewer emissions. The company would have been paid, effectively, through federal tax credits that were initially enacted by President George W. Bush and recently boosted by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The company's plans drew opposition, however, from rural landowners, farmers and environmentalists.
Opponents charged Navigator with running roughshod over property rights and putting rural residents close to explosive, hazardous materials. Some argued the pipeline scheme would only dramatically expand corn acres, at a time of increased scrutiny of the environmental benefits of ethanol.
Summit Carbon Solutions, an Iowa-based company seeking permits to build a carbon-capture pipeline in Minnesota and across the Midwest, recently told the Star Tribune that it remains confident in its project.
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