Onida, South Dakota-based Ringneck Energy “produces renewable energy that adds value to grain and livestock production, enhances the income” of its “investor partners” and “provides a safe and rewarding work environment that creates economic opportunities for the community.”

The company’s CEO Walt Wendland recently took to the DakotaWarCollege. com blog to offer his perspective regarding the importance of carbon capture and sequestration projects to South Dakota.

In his piece, Wendland wrote that the South Dakota legislature should not be considering “changing decades old policies to pick and choose which projects should have the right to use eminent domain.”

An excerpt from his commentary is below.

“The proposed Carbon Capture pipelines are common carriers under the law. They are transportation entities which have contracted with others to transport goods for a fee. They conduct open seasons and maintain capacity for walk up shippers with goods to transport which meet the specifications of the pipeline. In all respects the proposed pipelines are organized and proposed like the many other pipelines which transport gas and oil for a fee. Why would we apply different rules to these pipelines which compete with them and support our most significant industry? We wouldn’t. … More than one of every two rows of corn grown in this state is sold for use in renewable fuels. Corn prices and land prices have been built upon and depend upon this market.”

“Yet the ethanol industry is under tremendous pressure going forward. Fuel markets worldwide are demanding a less carbon intensive product. And renewable fuels produced elsewhere are seeking to meet that demand squarely. Carbon capture and sequestration represent the most economical way, by far to lower carbon scores and meet the developing demand. Without carbon capture and sequestration, our state’s renewable fuel industry is at a disadvantage and future opportunities at risk. One can’t be for ethanol and be against carbon capture at the same time. That is a position which doesn’t exist in the real world.”