Summit Carbon Solution's plans for an $8.9 billion, 2,500-mile pipeline gathering the CO2 generated by 50 some ethanol plants in the midwest ran into some problems today. South Dakota governor Larry Rhoden signed legislation that forbids the use of eminent domain specifically for liquid carbon dioxide pipelines. The C02, ostensibly the cause of the existential climate change now destroying the planet, is supposed to be captured at the ethanol plants, liquified, pumped through the as yet imaginary pipelines to a location northwest of Bismarck, ND and injected into the ground where it will remain forever unless it's needed for fracking oil wells or making dry ice for vacationing fishermen. Well, there's also the small matter of federal subsidies and transferable tax credits, too. The project wouldn't be considered for a moment if it had to operate as a genuine business.
governorsbiofuelscoalition.com
Could a project of this size actually be built for about $9 billion? That seems to be just one of the doubtful aspects of this whole affair. In fact, the South Dakota action could be the deciding factor in its inevitable failure. While Summit Carbon Solutions has little, if any, developed infrastructure of their own in place, some one must be prepared to come up with $9 billion+ to finance the project, with inflation increasing the cost daily. Funds of that amount aren't just sitting around waiting for the traffic light to change. Those who have them want them invested in productive, profitable enterprises. The time line for the operation is a negative as well. It would be years before a freezing drop of liquid CO2 could be pumped into the North Dakota prairie. Even if the Summit scam had been approved in some way it likely couldn't find the financing in an increasingly skeptical venture capital environment. The big money guys have moved on to AI data centers.
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