Election Day Victory
Pipeline Fighters —
Please join us in celebrating our victory at the polls in South Dakota on Election Day!
Voters in S.D. overwhelmingly rejected Referred Law 21 (60%-40%), throwing out a new law backed by the CO2 pipeline industry that would have stripped away all local control from counties.
The associated bill in the South Dakota Legislature (SB 201), passed after a massive lobbying effort from Summit Carbon Solutions’s direct financial partners, and enabled pipeline companies like Summit to simply ignore the ordinances that counties have enacted to protect their communities from dangerous CO2 pipelines.
But impacted landowners and communities in South Dakota didn’t stand down. They rallied and gathered enough signatures to challenge SB 201 at the ballot, and protect the voice of landowners and their county boards who called for and passed commonsense protections through their ordinances.
Summit’s financial partners in the multistate CO2 pipeline and “Carbon Capture and Storage” (CCS) scheme likely spent over $3 million backing Referred Law 21, with campaign ads that focused on “money for schools” and made no mention at all of CO2, or associated dangers from pipeline ruptures.
Meanwhile, with a total budget of less than $300,000, landowners and fellow opponents of Referred Law 21 like Dakota Rural Action highlighted safety concerns with CO2 pipelines and CCS through mostly radio and online ads, while also holding grassroots meetings across the state.
A statewide poll conducted in late October (KELO / Emerson College) found 40% opposed and 36% in favor of RL 21, with the remaining 24% unsure. A poll commissioned by Bold Alliance and conducted by Embold Research found 81% of voters across six Midwest states impacted by potential CO2 pipelines say they oppose corporations utilizing eminent domain for private projects.
The final vote in S.D. on Election Day (results) showed that landowners and communities potentially impacted by CO2 pipelines and other risky fossil fuel projects can get organized, and win victories against powerful corporations that are willing to spend millions on lies to trample property rights and force dangerous projects into communities that don’t want them.
In addition to on Election Day, landowners with the South Dakota Easement Team also won a recent victory at the South Dakota Supreme Court, which found Summit had not yet proven that it qualifies to use eminent domain against landowners in the state.
ORGANIZING ACROSS THE MIDWEST
Meanwhile, landowners in North Dakota impacted by the proposed underground CO2 waste well dumps challenged the state’s “amalgamation” laws, an extreme form of eminent domain where nonconsenting landowners are forced to participate if 60% are participating. The Northwest Landowners Association also previously successfully challenged a different state law related to pore space, with the North Dakota Supreme Court ruling that one unconstitutional in 2022.
In Illinois — another state targeted by industry to site underground CO2 waste well dumps, agribusiness corporation ADM experienced leaks of CO2 at monitoring wells at its flagship CCS facility in Decatur, Ill., and made no mention to local communities or state legislators voting on CCS-related bills last year. For this year’s session, organizers are urging advocates to support bills that would ban CO2 sequestraion underneath and through the Mahomet Aquifer and its recharge areas.
Landowners in Indiana impacted by proposed CO2 waste well dumps from Wabash Valley Resources had their appeal of the company’s EPA permits heard by that agency’s Environmental Appeals Board last month.
Landowners with the Iowa Easement Team, along with several Iowa counties, and a coalition of state lawmakers, filed lawsuits to appeal the approval of Summit’s pipeline permit by the Iowa Utilities Commission, while separately the Iowa Supreme Court heard landowners’ arguments that Summit’s surveying violates the state constitution.
BOLD ALLIANCE
Bold’s resident pipeline expert and attorney Paul Blackburn presented during a recent Congressional Briefing: CO2 Injection Well Safety and Health Concerns, and published a report for the Pipeline Fighters Hub on Understanding Computer Plume Modeling for Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Ruptures. Paul will also be speaking on a panel at the Pipeline Safety Trust’s upcoming annual conference in New Orleans, Nov. 21-22. (Landowners are encouraged to attend the conference for free, and can also receive sponsored lodging and travel expenses. Reach out to info@pstrust.org to learn more and register.)
We’ll head into the holiday season thankful that hard work has led to victory in South Dakota, while continuing to organize with our partners across the Midwest against eminent domain and CO2 pipelines — and supporting the work of other Pipeline Fighters across the country.
Thanks for standing with us.
The Bold Alliance team
Scientists Discover Fastest Degrading Bioplastic in Seawater
WHOI Scientists Discover Fastest Degrading Bioplastic in Seawater – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Earth’s oceans have become a dumping ground for the plastic waste that humans generate. Every year, anywhere from 4.8 to 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the oceans. Replacing traditional plastics with those that degrade in the ocean would reduce harm to marine animals and the environment.
Woods Hole, Mass. (Oct. 17, 2024) – Scientists at the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution have been working for years to find out what types of plastics have the shortest and longest lifespans in the ocean, and what types of plastic products – like straws and food wrappers – most commonly contribute to plastic pollution. Researchers are racing to develop biodegradable materials that can replace traditional plastics without causing harm to ocean environments.
After years of testing, a new version of cellulose diacetate (CDA) has been found to be the fastest degrading bioplastic material tested in seawater. The new CDA is a a plastic-like polymer derived from wood pulp material that degrades 15 times faster than solid CDA, and even faster than paper. It can replace other foam plastic materials, like Styrofoam, which can linger in the environment for many years.
summary by Susan McSwain for FoN
Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal
Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal, major study finds | Fossil fuels | The Guardian
For years, oil and gas producers have promoted gas as a “bridge” fuel and a “climate solution” over burning coal, and there is now a glut of new liquefied natural gas (or LNG) terminals, primarily in the US.
However, recent research at Cornell University shows that LNG – from drilling to transporting it – has a larger greenhouse gas footprint than any other fuel. For example, around half of the total emissions occur during the long journey taken by gas as it is pushed through pipelines to coastal terminals after it is drilled (usually via hydraulic fracking) from shale deposits in the U.S.
More than 125 climate, environmental and health scientists have reviewed and defended the research and urge a continuation of the pause on LNG exports.
Summary by Susan McSwain for Friends of Nelson
An elegant solution to expanding the grid
Running modern societies on clean electricity rather than burning fossil fuels will require improvements to our electric grid. Building new power lines is costly and involves time-consuming processes to acquire new land, rights-of-way, and other permits.
“Reconductoring” – replacing existing steel-cored power lines with advanced conductors with composite cores – can carry twice as much power at a given diameter compared to conventional lines. Reconductoring could provide 80% of the transmission capacity increases needed to achieve 90% clean energy generation by 2035. Upfront costs are higher, but $180 billion in generation and transmission costs would be saved by 2050, compared to building new power lines.
This would result in far fewer cases of eminent domain on private property to build new power lines
Read more from the article at anthropocenmagazine.org
An elegant and affordable solution to expanding the grid
Summary by Susan McSwain
June 15th Event – No Pipeline Party
Join Friends of Nelson at the Blue Mountain Barrel House on Saturday, June 15th, to celebrate the anniversary of the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and support the ongoing fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Author and journalist Jon Mingle will share a reading from his new book ‘Gaslight, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Fight for America’s Energy Future. Food and Beverages from Blue Mountain will be available on-site.
Speakers from the Legal Defense Fund for the ongoing battle against the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Music will follow.
The event is free and open to the public.
All proceeds from book and t-shirt sales will benefit the MVP Legal Defense Fund.
Click Here for more details about this event
Outdoor Explorations – Are You Kidding?!!
“Sirtalis” is the Latin word for a garter. It is more-or-less pronounced “SEER-tah-liss.” Back in
1843, an Austrian zoologist came up with this wacko name for a snake that is common
throughout North America. The full scientific name is Thamnophis (pronounced THAM-no-fiss)
sirtalis. Basically, it means a bush snake that wears a garter – or looks like a garter. Take your
pick.
The scientific name stuck. So there you have the reason why the official state snake of Virginia
is known by a word for a lady’s undergarment.
Several Garter Snake subspecies are found in the U.S. The subspecies that lives along the
Florida Gulf coast has lovely blue stripes, while the subspecies in mid-western states has red
stripes. Even albinos can be found in the wild, but here in Virginia, their dark stripes vary from
brown to grey to black with lighter cream-colored stripes as a contrast.
Garters in the eastern U.S. average between 18 – 27 inches long, and they are one of the most
commonly seen snakes in Virginia. They eat slugs, earthworms, leeches, lizards, small frogs,
frog eggs, small fish, and even small rodents. It is interesting that one species of earthworm,
the Red Wiggler, is toxic to Garter Snakes. This species of earthworm is native to Europe, and in
the U.S., it is mostly found in commercial composting bins. In turn, Garter Snakes are eaten by
animals such as hawks, crows, herons, raccoons, and other snake species. Juvenile Garters are
sometimes eaten by shrews, bullfrogs, and even large crayfish.
In Virginia, it is not legal to keep more than one native wild snake in captivity without a license,
but it is possible to purchase captive-bred Garters. Although Garters rarely bite people, keep in
mind that some individuals will readily emit a nasty-smelling musk when handled. If you get
the musk on your hands, a lot of washing with soap will be required to get rid of the smell, so
just enjoy watching them as they go about your garden hunting leeches that will eat your
Hostas!
by Susan McSwain for FoN
Contact Us
friendsofnelson@gmail.com
434-260-3298
Find Us
P.O. Box 33
Nellysford, VA 22958