(Radio Iowa) – A farmer who’s a spokesman for South Dakota landowners who oppose the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline says his state is the firewall that could stop the project. Ed Fishbach spoke at a rally at the Iowa Capitol this week. “Summit has nothing in South Dakota at this point in time that they can claim a victory for,” Fishbach said, “not one thing.”

The Iowa Utilities Commission has granted a permit to Summit, but with the requirement that North and South Dakota regulators approve the pipeline before construction may begin in Iowa. Fishbach lives near the small town of Mellette, about 25 miles south of Aberdeen, South Dakota. “I live in Spink County,” he said, “and by the way, my county in Spink County has the most miles of this Summit pipeline in South Dakota.”

South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission has denied Summit’s permit application and South Dakota’s Supreme Court has ruled Summit has yet to prove the pipeline is a service to the general public. That limits the company’s ability to do surveys along its proposed pipeline route in South Dakota without landowner permission. “That’s a landmark decision,” Fishbach said, “and I hope your supreme court is listening to what our supreme court said about Summit because it is damning.”

This November, South Dakota voters will decide a ballot question seeking repeal of a law South Dakota’s legislature and governor approved last winter. Supporters say the law is a compromise that provides protections to landowners, while preserving a path for pipeline projects. Fishbach says the law gives state officials authority to overrule county ordinances that regulate where pipelines may be routed.  “There will be nothing to stop Summit from putting that pipeline anywhere they want,” Fishbach said. “…This is what we’re up against, folks.”

Summit and pipeline advocates say the 25-hundred mile pipeline will drive job growth in the Midwest and provide a substantial boost to the ethanol industry and the U-S farm sector by making ethanol carbon neutral. Summit’s proposed pipeline route goes through five states and would connect to 57 ethanol plants, including 30 in Iowa.