After fierce debate, Lincoln County Commission punts on carbon pipeline regulations

Decision not to consider ordinances heads back to planning and zoning staff

A bitterly divided Lincoln County Commission on Tuesday declined to vote on four potential ordinances that regulate carbon pipelines, kicking them back to the county’s planning staff.

Each of the four ordinances contained different requirements for carbon pipelines. One of them would have allowed the pipelines to be permissive uses – meaning they would be administratively allowed if they met legal requirements defined by the commission, which included a 330-foot setback from the property lines of residences, schools and other structures, and a two-mile setback from a municipality. A decision under that version, Planning Director Toby Brown told the commission, would not be appealable by the public.

Another version would have required a carbon pipeline company to seek rezoning to light industrial throughout the path of the pipeline. Had it passed, the public would have had the ability to refer a rezoning to a public vote.

Only one of the four could be passed, Brown said. Passing more than one would have created conflicts.

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