Senate OKs Mehlhaff’s eminent domain bill

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota senators weren’t able on Friday to pass proposed changes that their Republican leader wants the Legislature make to state laws on eminent domain. So they reconsidered Senate Bill 198 on Monday, and this time — with an additional amendment — the measure got through.

The proposal from Sen. Jim Mehlhaff would affect all eminent domain proceedings. It proposes that a developer of any transmission project couldn’t start any condemnation action against a landowner until after receiving a permit for the project from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.

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SB 198 also would require that a condemner offer good-faith mediation, with the condemner responsible for the mediation costs.

Democratic Sen. Jamie Smith switched from a no to a yes, and that proved decisive. The Senate’s 18-17 vote on Monday for the latest version of SB 198 sets up a conflict with the House, where legislation has passed that would prohibit CO2 pipelines from using eminent domain. House Bill 1052 awaits a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee that Mehlhaff chairs.

The House is also scheduled to debate on Tuesday a proposed moratorium on CO2 pipelines in South Dakota unless certain conditions are met.

Several representatives from Glacial Lakes Energy, an ethanol producer, watched the Senate debate from the upstairs gallery on Monday.

Summit Carbon Solutions has an application pending at the PUC for a state permit for a pipeline that would collect CO2 from ethanol plants in South Dakota and transport it to central North Dakota for burial.