Summit Carbon Solutions has sued Bremer County in an effort to pave the way for their controversial carbon capture pipeline. The Bremer County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance in February of last year that requires pipeline companies to obtain a county permit, provide emergency response plans in case of a pipeline emergency, including plume modeling, and the pipeline must stay at least 2 miles from city limits and 1,000 feet from livestock operations and certain utilities. The path of the proposed pipeline would come within a mile of Readlyn. Summit is arguing that the federal government is in charge of regulating safety for pipelines and the state has already granted them a permit. They have won similar cases against Shelby and Story Counties in the last year and have pending litigation against Emmet, Kossuth, and Palo Alto counties. There is a caveat to the permit granted by the state, Summit must be granted permits in North and South Dakota as well. North Dakota granted a permit last week but South Dakota has voted against it, although Summit says they are reapplying for a permit there.
