Summit avoids landslides in North Dakota CO2 pipeline route changes

Changes made by Summit Carbon Solutions to its pipeline route in North Dakota include avoiding areas where landslides are likely to occur.

It also has moved farther east of Bismarck and some Bismarck intervenors have withdrawn from the case.

North Dakota is one of the few states to have possible landslide areas mapped, according to State Geologist Ed Murphy. Those maps are used when siting several different types of infrastructure, such as wind turbines, roads and pipelines.

The state Geological Survey identified 17 areas of soil instability on or near the hazardous liquid pipeline route originally submitted by Summit.

Murphy submitted a letter dated March 7 that says Summit has addressed those concerns, including rerouting the pipeline around some landslide areas.

“They’ve moved the pipeline, specifically to get away from some of those areas, and then they move the pipeline for other reasons,” Murphy said in an interview.

The letter was filed with the North Dakota Public Service Commission, which will decide whether to grant Summit a permit for its 335-mile route through North Dakota.

The pipeline would capture carbon emissions from ethanol plants in five states — including Iowa — and transport it to underground carbon storage sites in Mercer and Oliver counties in North Dakota.

A map of North Dakota’s landslide areas shows that they are mostly in western North Dakota, but there are also unstable areas along rivers, including the Sheyenne River. A branch of the pipeline from Casselton will cross the Sheyenne River connecting to another branch from Green Plains Renewable Energy ethanol plant in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

Those branches will connect to the main trunk of the pipeline that runs through south-central North Dakota.

Shifting soil caused a CO2 pipeline rupture in Mississippi

A landslide contributed to an oil pipeline spill in North Dakota in 2016 and shifting soil caused a carbon pipeline rupture in Mississippi in 2020, a case that many carbon pipeline opponents point to as an example of their safety hazards.

The North Dakota pipeline spill in Billings County caused crude oil to contaminate Ash Coulee Creek, according to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

The federal investigation was finally closed in February, with a PHMSA letter to the Belle Fourche Pipeline Co. that the agency was satisfied with the corrective measures that were taken. Dustin Hubbard of PHMSA confirmed for the North Dakota Monitor that a landslide caused the leak.

In Satartia, Mississippi, a PHMSA report blamed heavy rain and a landslide for the rupture of a CO2 pipeline.

The PHMSA standard for injuries as a result of a pipeline leak is for a person to be hospitalized. While there were no overnight hospitalizations, dozens of people were treated, according to a PHMSA report.

In a North Dakota Public Service Commission hearing on Summit’s permit application in 2023, Gerald Briggs, a first responder from Mississippi, reported finding three people unconscious with foam around their mouths after the carbon dioxide leak.

Summit pipeline has grown to more than 50 ethanol plants

Pipeline advocates maintain that they are the safest way to transport liquids and gases.

The Liquid Energy Pipeline Association, citing PHMSA data, says that 99.999 percent of crude oil and petroleum products delivered by pipeline reach their destination safely. In addition, it says CO2 pipelines have a lower incident rate than pipelines for both crude oil and refined energy products.

Summit, which is based in Iowa, calls its Midwest Carbon Express pipeline project the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project. It recently grew to more than 50 ethanol plants in five states.

Summit made changes to its route as it tries again to obtain a pipeline route permit from the North Dakota Public Service Commission. The PSC denied Summit’s permit application last year but is giving the company another chance to make its case.

The PSC met Monday and set the hearings for the week of April 22.

This article first appeared in the North Dakota Monitor.