Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Trump has wasted no time attempting to restore American energy dominance, economic prosperity, free markets, and individual liberty through a slew of executive actions. Despite this, the climate alarmist movement is far from dead.
Rather than relying on regulatory actions from the executive branch, climate alarmists are doubling down on acting through the “private sector” to achieve their ultimate goal of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Those efforts, with carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects prominent amongst them, must be quickly curtailed to protect Americans’ fundamental rights.
Some may think that private companies should be free to pursue whatever objectives they want. In a truly free market oriented primarily around small businesses, that is the correct perspective.
Unfortunately, as has been clearly indicated by the rise of coercive and liberty-eviscerating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) systems and other phenomena, our economy has been far from free.
Rather, the U.S. economy has been largely controlled by a cabal of powerful corporatist interests bent on imposing their net-zero agenda upon the American people.
Because the term “ESG” is now largely considered tainted by members of this cabal—thanks to the immense backlash against ESG from conservatives—the focus is shifting to other endeavors, such as carbon capture and storage.
As thoroughly described in a new paper I authored for The Heartland Institute, CCS projects are rapidly spreading across the country, creating a host of significant problems including environmental degradation, threats to public health, and rising energy costs.
Further, CCS companies receive massive amounts of taxpayer dollars from the federal government through subsidies, grants, tax credits, and other financial incentives, perpetuating yet another public-private partnership that is antithetical to free markets.
The most significant problem with CCS, however, is that CCS companies are attempting to use eminent domain to steal Americans’ private land, representing a dire threat to our fundamental property rights.
Should the Trump administration take action against CCS?
Here is the basic rundown of how CCS works, for the uninitiated. CCS companies operate by capturing carbon dioxide emissions at their source, condensing captured CO2 into a liquid-like “supercritical” state, and then transporting that CO2 to a storage location, typically via pipeline.
At the storage site, CO2 is then pumped deep underground, where it is theoretically supposed to remain (but often doesn’t)—thereby saving us all from the “threat” of planet-destroying carbon dioxide emissions.
Because this process typically entails transporting captured carbon dioxide across long distances through pipelines, CCS companies require possession of vast tracts of land through which their pipelines will cross. Most of this land is private property.
CCS companies are often able to successfully negotiate with certain landowners and reach an agreed-upon price for all or a portion of their property. However, not all landowners on a CCS company’s pipeline route are willing sellers, at which point CCS companies attempt to use eminent domain to forcibly take their property for “just compensation,” which is whatever the fair market value of the property is determined to be.
At this point, one might be wondering why a private company would be able to use eminent domain to take their land. That is a good question. Historically, the U.S. and state governments have used eminent domain to take private property for public use—as provided in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as state constitutions—in very limited instances.
Over time, the use of eminent domain has unfortunately become more frequent and applied for broader purposes. Today, eminent domain authority is often delegated to private companies, but only if they are considered “common carriers” rather than private, for-profit carriers.
Common carriers are companies that transport people or commodities for a fee and whose services are open to all members of the public, such as certain transportation, telecommunications, and utility companies.
CCS companies argue that they are common carriers and therefore can use eminent domain to take private property. Some states have been sympathetic to this argument.
For instance, Summit Carbon Solutions has already received approval to use eminent domain against private landowners in Iowa, a key milestone in Summit’s proposed 2,500-mile pipeline network spanning five states (Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota).
Fortunately, the South Dakota Supreme Court presented a roadblock to Summit via its August 2024 ruling, stating in its opinion that Summit had not sufficiently proven its common carrier status under South Dakota law, because sequestered carbon dioxide has no productive use.
Unless and until Summit proves that it is a common carrier in lower courts, it will be barred from using eminent domain to take private property within South Dakota.
This is the key argument against allowing CCS companies to use eminent domain. Sequestered carbon dioxide has no productive use and provides no public benefit. CCS companies are private, for-profit carriers. They are not common carriers.
In general, and as the aforementioned paper lays out in more detail, CCS is simply a scam designed to make vast sums of money—much of it from the federal government—off a problem that arguably does not exist, while simultaneously stripping Americans of their fundamental rights.
Fortunately, there are several actions that states and the federal government can take to stop CCS in its tracks. State policymakers should focus on protecting their constituents’ property rights by outright barring CCS companies from being able to wield eminent domain authority, and/or clarifying their common carrier laws to exclude CCS companies.
In tandem, the Trump administration should cut off the funding hose for CCS projects, while also severing the roots of the climate alarmist agenda more broadly by reconsidering the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding and delisting carbon dioxide as a harmful greenhouse gas.
Taken together, these solutions will kill CCS in its cradle.
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