Carbon pipeline company sues Edmunds County and its commissioners

Summit Carbon Solutions argues permit fees are illegal

Signs in opposition of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline line the boundary of a bean field in western Minnehaha County. (Joe Sneve / The Dakota Scout)

Summit Carbon Solutions opened another front in its bid to build a carbon pipeline through South Dakota, suing Edmunds County and the county’s commissioners Friday.

The company was joined in the lawsuit by Ronald Alverson, a corn farmer and the founder of Dakota Ethanol in Lake County that would be served by the pipeline.

SCS and Alverson contend that Edmunds County commissioners violated federal law and overstepped their taxing authority in state law when, on April 12, the commission passed a resolution establishing its opposition to the project. With that resolution came fee increases aimed at the pipeline.