A sign opposing carbon dioxide pipelines stands along Interstate 90 in February 2023 in South Dakota, near the Minnesota border. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
My husband and I take our corn to Poet near our home, and we purchase ethanol-blended gasoline. I don’t have millions of dollars to purchase large advertisements for my thoughts, but I would like to share just a small part of my experience with the Dakota Access Pipeline for crude oil that crosses my Minnehaha County property.
The north edge of the property runs along state Highway 38. I had numerous folks who wanted to purchase the land there to put up a home or a shed. I continually turned down the opportunities to sell as I wanted to keep the land available for myself or my family to build in the prime area.
If a building were placed there, it would have meant a higher and forever tax paid on the property. However, in 2016, an oil pipeline was built on my property. I can no longer build on that land. Even if I wanted to build just off the easement area, I would not because of the threat of a leak.