Summit's Midwest Carbon Express Pipeline Brings Landowner Concerns

Attorney Derrick Braaten was quoted in a recent Forum article about what’s shaping up to be the world’s largest carbon sequestration project in the world, the $4.5 billion Midwest Carbon Express. North Dakota is slated to be the final storage stop of the 2,000 mile pipeline network, capturing, moving, and ultimately storing carbon dioxide emissions from 31 ethanol plants in five states. Summit is looking at Oliver and Mercer county land to bury and permanently store those carbon dioxide emissions. Some landowners are concerned about “land damages and safety risks that come with piping and injecting so much carbon dioxide into the ground if Summit can’t be held responsible for what happens.”

Braaten Law Firm is representing a group of landowners impacted by the Summit project. Derrick shares concerns about how emerging projects can impact land and landowners for years to come, and compared this situation to how the oil boom impacted landowners of North Dakota:

“Landowners don’t realize that if they sign a lease with whatever low-ball offer Summit is offering, then they’re setting precedent,” he said. “If anyone has any experience in the oil fields, the idea that you would just sign the first thing that’s handed to you is crazy.”

Read more about the project and some of the landowner concerns about it here.