FORT PIERRE, S.D.(DakotaNewsNow)- In continuing coverage, Wednesday marks the second day of testimony for Navigator’s CO2 pipeline application in South Dakota.
Members of the Public Utilities Commission asked tough questions regarding safety and regulations. United States Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHEMSA, plans to announce increased safety regulations next year.
Commisioners voiced concerns of approving the pipeline before those new regulations, possibly allowing Navigator’s operations to be grandfathered in.
The P-U-C also voiced concern over Navigator not releasing the diameters of the pipeline route or their computer-generated rupture dispersion model.
P-U-C Chairperson Kristie Fiegen asked Mark Hereth, consultant for Navigator about the safety regulations that PHEMSA plans to announce for next year.
According to Navigator 30 percent of South Dakota landowners who are on the path of the pipeline have signed easements for the project. Of the 70 percent of landowners who have not signed, a portion have reported receiving eminent domain letters. Testimony continues today.