BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — North Dakota landowners piled inside the auditorium at the North Dakota Heritage Center on Friday.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission — also known as PSC — held an additional public hearing regarding the proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in North Dakota.

Summit Carbon Solutions is requesting a siting permit for the Midwest Carbon Express CO2 Pipeline Project. PSC gave the public a chance to speak out before a decision is made.

“CO2 is a whole different animal. It is not at all like other pipelines and there is too little known about it,” said Susan Doppler, a Bismarck resident against the CO2 pipeline project.

Many landowners are worried about the risks of having a CO2 pipeline so close to Bismarck. And Summit Carbon Solutions says with any pipeline there is a risk.

“Pipelines are under pressure, our pipeline is under pressure and so anything under pressure even a water line there is a risk associated with that but the risk is much less in my opinion than the gas pipelines that run through Bismarck. Much less than the railroads that run through Bismarck,” said Jimmy Powell, the chief operating officer of Summit Carbon Solutions. “We do an exhausting analysis on how we mitigate that risk. And the regulators like the PSC, they take a really close look at that technical information and they have to agree that we have mitigated the risk satisfactorily.”

And landowners are frustrated with the company — stating that Summit Carbon Solutions is impossible to work with.

“And Summit is, you can’t work with Summit,” said Doppler.

“I personally met with a landowner today in this building and I’m happy to meet with them anytime,” said Powell.

Then there is the question of transparency. North Dakotans believe Summit Carbon Solutions is purposely keeping vital information about the pipeline from the public. However, the company says that is not the case.

“Transparency depends on what you are talking about. I’m happy to talk about how we are going to construct across your property. How we are going to ensure the pipeline is always maintained in good working condition. When we hear attorneys talk about plume models the regulatory agencies already have that information and they are the technical experts that are supposed to represent the landowner that what we provided is accurate,” said Powell.

Because there are so many unknowns about the CO2 pipeline, many North Dakotans wish the pipeline project would just disappear.

“We would like to see the pipeline go away. But that’s not likely to happen. Change the route but that isn’t the answer either because then someone else has to deal with it,” said Doppler.

Summit had originally planned to obtain permits to build the pipeline in 2022 and start construction in 2023. No permits have yet been approved by the company.