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Brookings County forms pipeline subcommittee, urges state eminent-domain reform after CO2 update and public comment
Summary
County officials heard an update on CO2 pipeline planning, received hours of public comment highlighting safety and property concerns, adopted a resolution urging the state to reform eminent-domain law and voted to create a county pipeline subcommittee to guide local review and outreach.
Brookings County commissioners on Tuesday ordered the county development director to start a pipeline subcommittee and adopted a resolution urging the South Dakota Legislature to pass eminent-domain reform after an extended briefing on proposed CO2 transmission infrastructure and a multi-hour public comment period.
The action followed a presentation by county staff and a prolonged public-comment period in which residents and other speakers raised safety, emergency-response, insurance and property-value concerns tied to proposed high‑pressure CO2 lines and asked the commission to adopt local setback or permitting rules.
County development director and emergency manager Bob Hill summarized local planning, zoning and emergency work tied to pipelines and federal guidance from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Hill told the commission that pipelines “do not need to come through the Brookings County zoning commission to get permission to do a pipeline” but that above‑ground facilities larger than 10 by 12 feet must seek conditional‑use review. He also described existing consultation and planning zones in the county zoning ordinance and said the county has used PHMSA technical‑assistance grants beginning in 2008 to build local capacity.
Speakers from both sides urged action. JD Myers, a Summit Carbon Solutions representative, told commissioners they should “take a closer look at the extensive regulatory framework already in place” and offered to return to explain federal and state permitting. Several Brookings County residents, township board members and farmers urged stricter local controls. Matt Wagner, an Oslo Township board member, cited PHMSA’s recent notice of proposed rulemaking and urged a two‑mile minimum setback, saying the agency’s own analysis “includes hazardous” descriptors and identifies risks such as dense CO2 clouds that can displace oxygen.
Residents described concerns with emergency response, potential ground‑water and wetland impacts near Lake Campbell and Big Sioux River areas, and uncertainty about insurance and liability if a release occurs. Multiple speakers cited the 2020 Satartia, Mississippi CO2 release as a case study for fallout and long‑lasting plume effects. Several commenters urged the commission to consider alternatives, such as local industrial uses for CO2 that would keep value in the region rather than moving product through a long pipeline.
After discussion, commissioners voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 25‑04 (filed at the meeting as “resolution number 20 five‑four”), which urges the South Dakota Legislature to prohibit the use of eminent domain for private gain. The board then approved a motion to direct County Development Director Bob Hill to begin forming a pipeline subcommittee; Hill recommended including local fire departments, law enforcement representation, township officials from affected areas, a state's‑attorney representative and citizen members chosen through an application process.
County staff and commissioners said the subcommittee would be advisory and intended to give the county a structured forum to gather technical expertise, evaluate PHMSA and Public Utilities Commission (PUC) filings, and prepare local questions and requests for information to the PUC and state agencies. Hill said the county has filed for party status in PUC proceedings and will use the committee to help craft questions to the PUC as regulatory processes advance.
The commission did not adopt local setbacks, moratoria or zoning amendments at Tuesday’s meeting; instead it created the subcommittee and asked staff to prepare an application process and membership recommendations for the commission to approve. Commissioners and staff repeatedly stressed the county’s limited legal authority over underground siting decisions handled by the South Dakota PUC, while noting that local planning, conditional‑use review for above‑ground facilities and county zoning amendments remain tools the county can use.
The subcommittee formation and resolution mean the commission will continue active, county‑level engagement as the PUC and PHMSA processes move forward. Hill said he will work with the commission director to publish a committee application and expects to invite fire and law‑enforcement representatives and affected township officials as ad hoc participants as appropriate.
