Over 80 South Dakota landowners are involved in a lawsuit to fight against a company declaring they have the “right” to eminent domain.
Summit Carbon Solutions sued the landowners after they refused to allow a $4.5 billion carbon capture pipeline to run through their land.
The company threatened the landowners to use eminent domain if the landowners do not agree.
The company has also surveyed the land without the owners’ permission, damaging crops in the process.
As a result, 250 protestors gathered at the state capitol, imploring Republican Governor Kristi Noem to take action.
“If the legislature wants to call themselves into special session to change the law, I look forward to reviewing what they send to my desk,” the governor tweeted.
Noem said to Dakota News Now that the legislature lacked a majority to execute the eminent domain protection.
“Whether it is to protect eminent domain or protect private property owners, that’s something that the legislature has to have a role in right now. They’ve washed their hands of it,” the governor said to the news outlet.
She continued, “But their leadership has told me they don’t have consensus. They don’t have the ability to pass a bill right now if they were to go into a special session.”
Reporting from The Daily Wire:
Independent journalist and State Freedom Caucus Communications Director Greg Price reported that Noem may have conflicting interests on the issue. Summit Carbon Solutions’ leadership consists of influential Republican leaders; they were also a platinum sponsor for Noem’s inauguration in January. Terry Branstad, former longtime Republican governor of Iowa and President Trump’s Ambassador to China, is a senior advisor for the company. A senior advisor for the PR firm working with the company, Dan Lederman, was formerly the chairman for the South Dakota Republican Party.
