North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley is considering legal action against South Dakota over a law banning eminent domain for carbon pipeline projects. Wrigley called South Dakota’s March legislation a “hostile act” that impedes interstate commerce, according to a North Dakota Monitor article by Jeff Beach. The dispute centers on Summit Carbon Solutions’ multi-billion dollar pipeline network designed to capture carbon from ethanol plants and store it underground in North Dakota. This bill makes it much harder, if not impossible, for Summit to build through South Dakota, as they cannot force landowners to allow them to use their land. This essentially blocks North Dakota from connecting to the pipeline, which would leave the state without its anticipated federal tax credits for carbon capture. South Dakota House Speaker Jon Hansen, who sponsored the anti-eminent domain bill, fired back on Facebook, accusing Wrigley of being a “puppet” for pipeline lobbyists. Despite both states falling in the same party, they’ve taken opposite approaches to property rights versus economic development, setting up a potential constitutional showdown over interstate commerce.
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