Dear Editor

Dear Editor:

Summit Carbon Solutions, owned partially by a South Korean Company, is asking the Antelope County zoning board for a conditional use permit to grant permanent easements for a carbon pipeline.

Concentrating CO2 into a pipeline under high pressure is a disaster waiting to happen.

Multi-national corporations will profit through subsidies, depreciation and tax credits. The "Inflation Reduction Act" states the government will pay them up to $180 per metric ton. Depreciation on a $5.5 billion pipeline for an investor in the 50% tax bracket equals $2.75 billion. The pipeline companies estimate 18 million metric tons of CO2 will be sequestered per year. The tax credit for 18 million metric tons of CO2 per year at $180 per metric ton, equals $3.2 billion. That's about a $6 billion return on your investment in one year.

It would be like the government setting a farmer up to farm, providing all the equipment to produce their crop, then pay them per bushel for it. Yet, the government never takes delivery of their produce. Then the farmer can sell it to the highest bidder. Who eventually is paying for it all? We the taxpayers!

CO2 is used for fracking, fertilizer, aviation fuel, soda, fire suppression plant growth in greenhouses. If there is such demand for CO2, then why "sequester" it in the ground?

If the Conditional Use Permit is denied in Antelope County, these landowners who have already signed contracts with Summit will still be awarded the funds agreed upon, according to a Summit representative.

There are more than 100 eminent domain cases pending in South Dakota concerning proposed carbon pipelines.

A Summit representative stated that they plan to use eminent domain in Nebraska.

If a for-profit business is allowed to use eminent domain, this will set a precedent for every landowner in Nebraska.

Connie Baker

Neligh, Nebraska