To The REVIEW:

Don’t call them “CO2 pipeline opponents.”

Many of us in the strong movement against the way Summit Carbon Solutions is trying to unfairly take our private landowner liberties, have a vested interest in seeing South Dakota and Iowa ethanol and corn flourish.

So, you see it’s not exactly fair to refer to Summit Carbon Solutions’ opponents as “CO2 pipeline opponents” or even as “carbon capture/reduction opponents.”

These terms have a connotation of being anti-agriculture and are labels of someone who does not want Midwest agriculture to be competitive in low-carbon economies of the future.

Both sides of the pipeline debate want those things.

The protest is about the way Summit is approaching this specific project and the evident attempts of Summit to circumvent the rules and trample the well-established precedent of local government control.

Some of the opponents of Summit’s proposal are landowners who have the existing Dakota Access Pipeline route on our property.

It just so happens that my family’s farm is one of them, and Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposal runs exactly parallel to the current Dakota Access Pipeline.

This gives a great opportunity for me to share a narrative example of the disconnect and the bad faith actions of Summit Carbon Solutions.

Dakota Access Pipeline paid more for its pipeline easement in 2016 than Summit is even offering today.

And I don’t believe I need to spell out what the price of farm land has done since 2016.

The offers from Summit are a joke.

A slap in the face.

A better way to refer to this group is “Opponents of Summit Carbon Solutions.”

Brad Bonnema,

Lyon County landowner,

Sioux Falls, SD