PUC rejects Summit Carbon Solutions permit application

Highly anticipated hearings were set to last roughly three weeks

Representatives with Summit Carbon Solutions attend the first and only day of hearings on whether or not to grant the company a permit to construct their carbon pipeline. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

FORT PIERRE – What started out with lawyers from Summit Carbon Solutions telling the Public Utilities Commission that carbon pipelines are an inevitability, ended minutes later with the same body denying their application for a construction permit. 

The three-member commission spent two hours deliberating on whether or not to grant a permit to the Iowa-based company, making quick work of a highly anticipated hearing that was set to last about three weeks.

“Summit’s route violates county ordinances,” said PUC Staff Attorney Kristen Edwards. “Without preemption there is simply not a path forward.”

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