ABERDEEN, S.D.(Aberdeen American News)- An innocuous introductory meeting with the Brown County Commission Tuesday ended up being a lengthy question-and-answer session for representatives from Summit Carbon Solutions.

Jay Volk was one of two representatives from Summit who appeared at the meeting. His primary aim was to get some initial details about procedures and contact information for the county planning and zoning office, highway department and emergency manager. The heads of those departments were all in attendance.

Volk said the pipeline will vary in size with smaller lines that are 4 inches to 8 inches in diameter feeding into a 20-inch line. About 29 miles of pipeline are slated for Brown County as it is slated to connect to the Glacial Lakes Energy ethanol plant on the west side of Aberdeen, he said.

When it comes to roads and highways, Highway Superintendent Dirk Rogers said everything would need to be bored under county roads and any permission for township roads would have to be granted by township officials.

Volk said pipeline safety training is planned for emergency responders. He also said Summit has hired a contractor who will replace any tile that’s cut when the pipe is laid.

He said the idea of the pipeline is to take the carbon dioxide created through the process of making ethanol and run it through a compressed line to North Dakota where it will be permanently sequestered underground. Volk said the goal is to reduce the carbon index for the ethanol plants, which will allow them to tap into low-carbon markets.

While under pressure, Volk said, the carbon dioxide is in a supercritical state that is between a liquid and a gas.

As questions continued, commission Chairman Duane Sutton reminded those in attendance that there is a public hearing about the proposed pipeline at noon Friday at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel, 1400 Eighth Ave. N.E. The session, organized by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, is to gather public input about the project.