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Public urges Mitchell County to reconsider pipeline ordinance, cites carbon dioxide risks
Summary
During public comment, a resident urged supervisors to reconsider a proposed pipeline ordinance and work with county counsel, warning that carbon dioxide pipelines pose distinct hazards and arguing similar ordinances in other counties have stood up to challenge.
A member of the public used the Jan. 27 meeting’s public-comment period to urge Mitchell County supervisors to reconsider a proposed pipeline ordinance and to work with county legal staff on defensible language.
The commenter said the board had deferred action previously because ordinance language would have no effect unless it was in place before a permitting phase, and argued that similar ordinances passed in other counties had not resulted in lawsuits. The public speaker emphasized that carbon dioxide pipelines present different hazards than natural gas lines and asked the supervisors to consider long-term public-safety implications.
The commenter urged the board to “work with the attorney on this because he has put together ordinances that have stood and have not been challenged in court,” and asked supervisors to look beyond short-term considerations when making policy choices. The board did not take action on the ordinance at the meeting; the comment closed with thanks to the supervisors for their attention.
Next steps: the transcript records the request to work with counsel on ordinance language; no further board action or vote on the ordinance was recorded at this meeting.
