LETTER | Baseball stadium gift from pipeline company would be monumental reminder

Township Supervisors, Turner County Commissioners, Minnehaha County Commissioners and state Legislators, thank you for your sacrificial time and efforts in so many areas. 

I am Peggy Hoogestraat, a resident of Germantown Township in Turner County. My husband has rural property there as well as a home within a block of Turner County Commissioner Miller in Viborg. I own property in Humboldt Township in Minnehaha County where I lived as a child. 

My husband and I take our corn to Poet near our home, and we purchase ethanol blended gasoline. I don’t have millions of dollars to purchase large advertisements for my thoughts, nor can I give you a donation for a baseball stadium, but I would like to share just a small part of my experience with an oil pipeline that crosses my Minnehaha County property. 

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The north edge of the property runs along Highway 38. I had numerous folks who wanted to purchase the land there to put up a home or a shed. I continually turned down the opportunities to sell as I wanted to keep the land available for myself or my family to build in the prime area. I want to remind you that if a building were placed there, it would have meant a higher and forever tax paid on the property. However, in 2016, an oil pipeline was built on my property. I can no longer build on that land. Even if I wanted to build just off the easement area, I would not because of the threat of a leak. The oil company has already had to do a maintenance dig on my property only to find oil on the outside of the pipe before repairs were completed. The leaked oil remains in the ground. Please note that the oil company is taxed on the pipe in the ground but as the pipe depreciates, the tax gets less.  

Now I would like you to imagine this happening to property owners across the state as a carbon pipeline comes through. Developments, building, and expansions by private property owners will be halted. Those increased taxes will never happen. Temporary income from a private company will eventually end. Expenses for the townships, counties and state will continue. And if your town is worthy, according to the pipeline company, you may get a new baseball stadium, which will only be a monument reminding the local folks of the damaged field drain tiles, livestock damages, soil issues, damaged roads, fear of a possible leak, affected physical and mental health, and so much more. Please also consider the amount of water and electricity that a carbon pipeline would require. 

As you make decisions for the taxpayers and citizens of your township, county and state, please do your own homework. And remember that South Dakota is a great state to live in. Let’s keep it that way. 

Please say no to legislation or decisions that favor out-of-state investors wanting to build a carbon pipeline. Please say yes to protect our South Dakota citizens. The ethanol plants will do fine without the pipelines. 

Peggy Hoogestraat
Chancellor, S.D.