PIERRE, S.D. – The 2024 South Dakota Legislature got its hand slapped in Tuesday’s election when voters rejected Referred Law 21.
A majority of South Dakota voters have said no to a lawmaker-backed measure dubbed the “Landowner Bill of Rights” that would have created statewide uniformity around carbon pipeline regulations, marking yet another blow to a years-long effort by Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions to get a transmission line built through the Mount Rushmore State.
“The people have spoken. This is a mandate from the voters that South Dakota is not for sale,” said Rep. Karla Lems, the Canton Republican who helped refer the law to a public vote after it narrowly cleared the state Legislature in March. “They understand that our property rights are sacred and the legislature got it wrong. Now we move forward to enact much needed protections.”
At time of publication, RL 21 was failing with only 38 percent of voters casting ballots in support of the measure.
Originally passed as Senate Bill 201, RL 21 was touted as a compromise between landowners opposed to carbon sequestration pipelines on their properties and companies like Summit Carbon Solutions looking to pump carbon dioxide emitted by ethanol plants to underground storage in North Dakota. The now-defunct law created setback requirements, bonding and insurance regulations, and indemnification protections for landowners for the life of any carbon pipeline.
But it also sought to override any county-level ordinances related to the distance a transmission line must be from homes, schools, and towns. And that’s why groups like the South Dakota Property Rights and Local Control Alliance moved quickly to gather more than 30,000 signatures in support of putting the law on the ballot. The opponents argued that it undermines county governments’ local authority regarding pipeline regulations, concedes eminent domain powers to Summit Carbon Solutions, and violates private property rights.
