FAIRMONT– The Martin County Commissioners were presented with an update on the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline Project during their meeting on Tuesday.

Joe Caruso, Minnesota External Affairs Coordinator, said they were last in the area in June for a public open house, which was well attended. He said at that time questions were raised and good conversations were had.

“We also met with Scott (Higgins, County Coordinator) and some of the department heads at the county to brief them on what was going on,” said Caruso.

Summit Carbon Solutions is headquartered in Ames, Iowa, It is the world’s largest integrated carbon capture, transportation and storage business.

SCS has partnered with 32 ethanol plants across five states, including Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska, to develop the largest carbon capture and storage project in the world.

“Our project is designed to capture up to 12 million tons of carbon dioxide every year and permanently store it deep under the ground in North Dakota,” Caruso said.

He said that the purpose is to bolster and protect the sustainability of the ethanol industry and ultimately the corn growers and land owners who are selling corn to the ethanol plants.

The CO2 will be transported via pipeline. Currently it’s estimated that nearly 2,000 miles of pipeline will cover the five states and will vary from 4 in. to 24 in.

It’s anticipated that 25.39 miles of pipeline will be in Martin County.

Caruso said SCS is investing $4.5 million system-wide over the five states and about 12 percent of the investment will be in Minnesota.

“With just under $500 million of capital expenditures in your state, three things are going to drive that at a county level. It’s the diameter of pipe. In Martin County it’s a 6 in. pipe coming out of Green Plains. The length of the pipe, so the miles crossed in the county and then whether or not there’s an ethanol plant in the county,” Caruso explained.

Caruso detailed other public meetings they’ve had across the states and said they’ve also had extensive meetings with the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Minnesota Department of Health.

“The department of health wants to protect the drinking water system in the state. That’s

their priority. We’ve talked about the details of that relative to the pipeline,” Caruso said.

Caruso indicated a map which showed the proposed pipeline’s route in Martin County. He spoke about “red bowties” on the map which signified location safety valves.

“The line will be monitored 24/7… if we detect that there’s a leak, we can shut down the system around it, above or below the leak,” Caruso explained.

He explained that CO2 is not flammable or combustible, but that it is hazardous in high concentrations.

Commissioner Elliot Belgard asked what the concerns are with a leak. He asked if it could cause respiratory issues.

It was explained that quick action would take place and that there are shut-down procedures. If there was a large release that came with a cloud, an evacuation of the area might be necessary. However, it was said that it dissipates quickly in the wind.

“If there was a leak and you didn’t respond quick enough and there was a cloud over a hog barn, could it kill the hogs? That’s what I need answered,” Belgard said.

“It could if it could get inside the hog barn in a very large concentration. The dissipation is very quick,” said Scott O’Konek, Project Manager for Minnesota.

He talked about an incidence in Mississippi which he called “worst case scenario,” where the cloud went over a town. He said it was a very large concentration of CO2 and Hydrogen Sulphide, which is even more deadly. He said while there were no deaths, people went to the hospital and some are still having respiratory issues.

“The difference between us and that would be the hydrogen sulphide. It’s very nasty,” said O’Konek.

Caruso pointed out that the Mississippi accident was not just a leak but a complete guillotine failure of a 24 in. line.

O’Konek and Caruso said that if a landowner was out with a backhoe they’d need to call and have someone come out and observe as they dig.

“We follow the same standards as pipelines have forever. If somebody is digging within the vicinity of the pipeline, there’s somebody there,” O’Konek said.

While several steps need to be taken first, Caruso said they’re looking to start construction in 2024 and some parts of the project will be done that year. Other parts in Minnesota will probably not be done until 2025.

CSC is still having conversations with landowners and indicated that they would be back to check in with the commissioners at a later date.