Summit Carbon Solutions has formally requested the cancellation of two underground CO2 storage permits in central North Dakota, effectively abandoning two-thirds of its proposed storage footprint in the state.
In a filing submitted to the North Dakota Supreme Court, the company stated that subsidiaries Summit #1 and Summit #2 determined as a matter of business judgment not to proceed with the construction, development, or operation of the two storage areas.
The filing follows a lower district court decision earlier this year that voided all three of Summit’s state-issued storage permits.
While Summit and state regulators initially appealed the entire district court ruling, the company is now asking the state Supreme Court to narrow the scope of the appeal strictly to the third site, designated as Summit #3.
The North Dakota Industrial Commission, a three-member regulatory board chaired by Governor Kelly Armstrong, has approved the permit cancellations for the first two storage facilities.
Landowner Opposition And Strategic Shift To Wyoming Reframe Project Scope
The decision to forfeit two permit areas marks a significant victory for local landowners who have spent years contesting the project over property rights, liability terms, and compensation packages.
Summit noted that its decision to focus exclusively on the Summit #3 site stems from having secured approximately 98% of the necessary pore-space storage rights in that specific area, where landowner litigation is less concentrated.
The company’s multi-state infrastructure network was originally designed to transport captured CO2 emissions from ethanol facilities across five Midwestern states to deep geological formations beneath Mercer, McLean, and Oliver counties.
Relevant: Summit Carbon Solutions Hit With $6.6M Supplier Lawsuit Amid Pipeline Delays
Despite scaling back its North Dakota storage plans and shifting primary injection operations toward alternative storage hubs in Wyoming, Summit confirmed it intends to maintain its existing pipeline route easements and remaining storage assets in North Dakota for future development opportunities.
The remaining Summit #3 storage permit, the state law governing CO2 storage authority, and Summit’s pipeline routing permits issued by the Public Service Commission remain subject to ongoing legal proceedings across the state court system.
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