Letter to the Editor – LEDR: Gov. Noem, where are you?
SD landowners are dumbfounded, stunned and in disbelief by Governor Noem and their elected officials’ INACTION and complete DISREGARD to the recent events that happened to Jared Bossly and his family by Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline. This pipeline company, in addition to Navigator Heartland Greenway, plans to use eminent domain against unwilling landowners to transport CO2 under high pressure (2100 psi) and sequester it underground. Both are PRIVATE, FOR-PROFIT companies with FOREIGN ties. Neither company has been issued a permit from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Neither company will provide landowners with risk assessments/plume modeling or environmental impact studies. Because of South Dakota’s inadequate eminent domain laws, the companies are allowed to survey any land that the pipeline is proposed to cross by giving a 30 day notice. Currently, over 100 South Dakota landowners have been served with eminent domain lawsuits before a PUC permit has been granted!
Just two weeks ago on June 15th, 2023, Governor Noem testified to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources in Washington, D.C.
“This rule is just one of many that highlights an example of an overreaching, unelected bureaucracy attempting to perpetuate radical environmental policies that ignore common sense,” Noem said. “They ignore stewardship practices that have been practiced on our land for generations.”
“I was raised by a dad who often reminded me, ‘Kristi, we don’t sell land, because God’s not making any more land…,” said Governor Noem. “But I also learned why he cared so much – because working the land wasn’t just a job or a career to my father. It was our family legacy. It was our way of life. It was a culture that not only preserves a critical work ethic that is so important to this country, but it also reminded us daily of the natural resources that were a gift from God.”
“Conservation is already incredibly a part of every single management practice that happens on BLM land,” Noem said. “To go out there and to create a mechanism such as a conservation lease that can be bought by third parties — not even necessarily by people in our own country — and give them access and authority over these lands, it’s dangerous.”
Noem comments echo what landowners have been saying all along in their fight against for-profit, private pipeline companies. Yet, Noem has been consistently silent concerning landowners’ pleas! Could it be that Noem’s platinum sponsors for her inauguration included Summit Carbon Solutions and POET or could it be her conflicts of interest with her son-in-law?
“In my world, everybody matters,” she said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re big or small or important or not important. You should listen to them, especially if they’re making a living off the land.”
Call to Action
Contact Noem’s office at 605-773-3212. Ask her why she is not standing up for landowners constitutional rights and call a special session.
Contact your legislators asking them for a special session.
Sign the petition on sdpropertyrights.com
Please take action before South Dakota is irreparably damaged!
Gratefully,
Landowners for Eminent Domain Reform
