Midwest Carbon Express, a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project being developed across five Midwestern states by Summit Carbon Solutions, took two important steps forward this week.
Summit said Thursday that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission had granted a permit for the pipeline’s 28-mile route through Otter Tail and Wilkin counties in west-central Minnesota. The decision by the PUC follows the approval of pipeline permits in Iowa and North Dakota. Summit refiled its South Dakota permit application in November and said it will be working on the permitting situation in Nebraska into 2025.
Summit also said Thursday that it has received permits for three Class VI injection wells from the North Dakota Industrial Commission. The permits allow Summit to permanently store more than 350 million metric tons (MT) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in geologic formations more than a mile underground. North Dakota is one of just three states — Louisiana and Wyoming are the others — with control over permitting for Class VI wells. The process is handled by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in all other states.
Summit said it remains on track to begin construction in early 2026 and start operations in 2027. Midwest Carbon Express would capture CO2 emissions from 57 ethanol plants in five states.
