BLUE EARTH– Could there be a pipeline running through part of Faribault County someday?

Maybe, if the plans of a company called Summit Carbon Solutions come to fruition.

According to company representative Quinn Slaven, who appeared virtually at the Faribault County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 7, the company is seeking to capture carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol plants before they are released into the atmosphere.

“We would compress them into a liquid which would then be transported by a pipeline and injected into underground rock formations in North Dakota,” Slaven explained. “It would be a $4.5 billion investment by the company.”

Summit Carbon Solutions has agreements with ethanol plants in five states including Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, as well as Minnesota.

“We do have an agreement with five ethanol plants in Minnesota, including the one in Fairmont,” Slaven commented. “We do not currently have a contract with the plant in Winnebago.”

As of April 29, the company had agreements with 30 facilities with an annual commitment for a total of eight million metric tons of carbon dioxide volume.

The company is seeking to be operational by 2024 and was at the meeting to see what would need to be done, as far as regulations go, should the company want to build a pipeline in Faribault County.

The commissioners expressed their opinion a conditional use permit would need to be obtained by the company.

“Carbon dioxide is much less of a health and environmental hazard than other substances transported by pipelines,” Slaven explained. “It is not combustible.”

In other business:

— Board members approved the request of Sara Van Moer of the Central Services department to attend a seminar titled “Managing the Human Resource” put on by MCIT (Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust).

— A request by Central Services director Lexi Scholten to attend the Minnesota Association of County Administrators (MACA)/Minneosta Association of County Human Resource Management Association (MCHRMA) fall conference was approved.

— Steve Robbins of the County Assessor’s office was approved to attend the Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers fall conference.