Area county rejects plan to build pipeline through it

LINCOLN — An area county delivered a blow Tuesday to plans by an Iowa corporation to build a pipeline carrying carbon dioxide across the state.

On a 3-0 vote, the Stanton County Board denied a conditional use permit for Summit Carbon Solutions, which is seeking to build a CO2 pipeline from more than 50 ethanol plants in the Midwest to a sequestration site in North Dakota.

Stanton County Clerk Wanda Heermann said commissioners stated they needed more information about the health risks and possible foreign ownership of the company and that they wanted to see more public education and consideration of alternative routes.

Summit, Heermann said, would have to reapply for a conditional use permit if it wants to cross the northeast Nebraska county.

One Stanton County landowner who opposes the project noted that not one landowner testified in favor of the pipeline prior to the county board’s vote Tuesday.

“I want it to be advertised that counties, or at least one, as of now was presented with this decision and denied it — unanimously denied,” said Justin Kennedy, a member of an opposition group, the Nebraska Easement Action Team. It is a wing of the Bold Alliance, which led the opposition to the crudeoil Keystone XL pipeline.

A Summit spokeswoman said the company “respects the decision of the Stanton County Commissioners and will address their feedback.”