RL21: The devil is in the details

It’s David vs. Goliath scenario happening right here in South Dakota!

$2.2 million is being poured into misleading and inaccurate advertising to pass RL21 vs. South Dakota concerned citizens and landowners raising around $200,000 in the fight to protect private property rights and retain local control.

Highlights of RL21:

• Complex seven-page bill with an incomplete two-paragraph attorney general explanation.
• Falsely dubbed as the Landowner Bill of Rights when in reality it benefits private, for-profit pipeline companies and their foreign investors.
• Backroom deals were made where impacted landowners/citizens were not given a seat at the table.
• Destroys local authority and control by overriding local ordinances designed to protect communities.
• Upends 135 years of South Dakota codified law for a prospective project and future unknowns stripping away the decision-making power of over 300 county commissioners.
• No guarantee of the $1 per linear foot surcharge; and at best, it is temporary (12 years).
• Prohibits countys ability to tax or charge fees to offset costs and expenses.
• Compels the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to grant construction permits without delay by this wording in RL21: the state must also ensure that facilities are permitted and constructed in an orderly and timely manner. Last September, the PUC denied both hazardous carbon pipeline permits (Navigator & Summit Carbon Solutions) for failing to meet the burden of proof needed in granting a permit. RL21 will handcuff the PUC forcing them to grant the permit.
• No mandate of public release of safety data that includes pipeline rupture kill zones.
• Does not protect landowners liability from pipeline ruptures.
• Did not address the core of the issue – eminent domain for potential economic development.
• Sets a dangerous precedent for the future.

Dont let corporate interest overpower citizens rights. Vote “no” on RL21!