On Monday, Governor Kristi Noem tried to distract us from the red-state menace of Republican-run carbon-dioxide pipeliner Summit Carbon Solutions by painting her Iowa Republican friends as part of the Red Chinese Menace:
What bothers me, Mike, is that a lot of the investment that’s going into this pipeline is influenced by China. They have a $100-million partnership here with a Chinese-owned ethanol company. Their business partner received a $300-million loan from the Chinese central bank. I tried to stop China from having an influence in South Dakota and from buying ag land, and now they’re coming out here and investing in a pipeline that’s crossing ag land. This is the last thing I want to see and I’ve been very public about it, but the Legislature didn’t support me on that bill, either, and neither did ag organizations [Gov. Kristi Noem, interview with Mike Tanner, “Noem Talks Carbon Pipeline, Border Security, Presidential Politics with KWAT News,” KWAT, 2023.06.27, transcribed from audio by CAH/DFP].
Noem has produced no receipts to back up her claims. Summit Carbon Solutions tells KELO-TV says Noem is stretching the truth:
“The company has not received, nor has it solicited, contributions from China,” Summit Carbon Solutions said in an email response to questions from KELOLAND News.
But Summit did secure a $300 million investment from TPG Rise Climate, according to TPG Rise Climate and Summit. China-based Silk Road Fund is one of the anchor investors in TPG Rise.
…In its email to KELOLAND, Summit cited investors such as John Deere, Continental Resources, Tiger Infrastructure Partners and ethanol plants. According to information released by Summitand Continental Resources, Continental will commit $250 million to the proposed CO2 project.
A Korean-based business is involved in the Summit project.
SK E&S Co., the natural gas business unit of South Korea’s SK Group, is investing $110 million for a 10% stake in Summit Carbon Solutions LLC.
The China-based Silk Road Fund is an anchor investor in TPG Rise Climate which will invest $300 million [Rae Yost, “Summit Responds to Noem’s Radio Comments on CO2 Pipelines,” KELO-TV, 2023.06.28].
Don’t get distracted by Noem’s McCarthyism: wherever the money is coming from, Iowa Republicans are using it to seize South Dakotans’ property rights to build their private, for-profit project.
Summit says no China connection. Really? Terry Branstad is Summit’s chief lobbyist in Iowa and is also a registered foreign agent for the Chinese government to lobby Iowa officials to support the pipeline. Branstad was a former Iowa governor and Trump’s ambassador to China. This could be cleared up easily if Summit would release the complete list of their investors supporting their pipeline, which they continually fail to do. Why the secrecy? What are they hiding?
I’m with Ed on this.
Let’s clear the smoke and see these pipelines for what they are.
Norm’s comments remind be of Orwell’s “1984”.
Her comment “I’ve always been opposed to Eminent Domain.”
Just a pretty face.
So, if I invest in Joe Schmoe’s company and Joe Schmoe invests in another company that invests in an entity called Summit, am I an investor in Summit. NO. Even though I would never invest in Summit, I likely invest in Joe Schmoe’s company for a lot of different reasons. I probably do not have any idea what Summit is.
Hank Paulson invests in a lot of good projects. This ain’t one of them. Everyone makes mistakes. And, yes, he has long been involved in China. He has some Chinese investors. Sort of like Mike Rounds and his bankrupt packing plant. I’m not a fan of the extremely rich folks investing in things like this. But the same goes for DAPL and Keystone XL, the gold mines and the uranium mines in South Dakota. Think about that for a while.
This is what all rural South Dakotans heard on farm broadcasting WNAX and KELO radio stations this week. This from an extreme right-wing cowboy. http://loostales.com/audio/loostalestuesday.mp3
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/03/02/carbon-capture-pipeline-planned-summit-gets-250-million-harold-hamm/9341140002/
Investor Name
Lead Investor
Funding Round
Partners
TPG Rise Climate Fund Logo
TPG Rise Climate Fund
Yes
Private Equity Round – Summit Carbon Solutions Logo
Private Equity Round – Summit Carbon Solutions
Hank Paulson
Tiger Infrastructure Partners Logo
Tiger Infrastructure Partners
Yes
Private Equity Round – Summit Carbon Solutions Logo
Private Equity Round – Summit Carbon Solutions
Emil Henry
Continental Resources Logo
Continental Resources
Yes
Corporate Round – Summit Carbon Solutions Logo
Corporate Round – Summit Carbon Solutions
—
John Deere Logo
John Deere
Yes
Corporate Round – Summit Carbon Solutions Logo
Corporate Round – Summit Carbon Solutions
Cory Reed
Tiger Infrastructure Partners Logo
Tiger Infrastructure Partners
Yes
Private Equity Round – Summit Carbon Solutions Logo
Private Equity Round – Summit Carbon Solutions
Emil Henry
Not squarely on topic, but, former iowa guv and ambass to China, Terry Eugene Braindead, has his own Hunter Biden crisis involving Braindead’s eldest son, Eric, “the killer.
“https://theintercept.com/2020/10/15/eric-branstad-trump-china-ambassador/
From the article linked by Mr. Onion:
“The Trump administration in 2018 gave North Dakota the power to regulate underground wells used for long-term storage of waste carbon dioxide. North Dakota was the first state to be given such power, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in announcing the move. The state has since invested heavily in carbon capture and sequestration technology.”
You don’t have to go as far as China to find investors. Try North Dakota.
Braindead’s relationship with China prez, Xi, goes back over 30 years.
Don’t blame Biden. Trump handed the regulatory power over underground wells to store CO2 to North Dakota.
Also from <r. Onion's linked article:
“We have engaged with governors and leaders in all five states involved in the project and are grateful for the exceptional leadership and commitment from each to this initiative,” said Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit Agricultural Group."
That would mean that Governor Noem has been in the loop and indeed has been an "exceptional" leader for the project and is committed to the project. She needs to disclose if she has met with Mr. Rastetter or others from Summit, what information was exchanged between her administration and Summit. What departments and divisions have been contacted by Summit and what information is being exchanged. It's time for Noem to come clean on her administration's efforts on Summit's behalf. This information should be requested under the open records act.
Yup, the TGP Climate fund is a financial subsidiary and or recipient of Chinese funding. By Chinese funding we have to mean a substantial portion is invested by and the profit generated will go to the Chinese government or one of its’ subsidiaries, the most common of which is the Chinese Army. There are no “private companies” in China. A substantial percentage of all Chinese corporations (some say 51%, some say 49%) are owned by the Chinese government or its subsidiaries. After all, folks, China IS a communist country.
Harold Hamm makes money pulling carbon out of the ground, then gets paid putting it back it. Genius. And a racket…
Arlo, TGP isn’t Chinese. I think this Chinese tie-in is more of a meme than fact. TGP was founded in San Fransisco, The Rise Climate Fund is a subsidiary of this US-based company. It’s executive is US-based. The company has offices in 8 countries. It may have received a loan from a Chinese entity, that doesn’t make it Chinese, nor does it mean that the Chinese loan is intended to be used for Summit. TGP Rise Climate has lots of projects it has invested in. Check out its website.
https://therisefund.com/tpgriseclimate
The investment from TPG Rise Climate appears to follow more senior investors, Continental Resources and Tiger Infrastructure Partners.
From the TBP Rise Climate Fund websites: “Along with the $600+ million already raised from prior investors, including Continental Resources, Inc. and Tiger Infrastructure Partners, Summit has secured commitments of an additional $400+ million, including $300 million from TPG Rise Climate, the dedicated climate investing strategy of TPG’s global impact investing platform TPG Rise.
Thanks Donald…TGP Rise Capital is not the subsidiary of the Communist Chinese Government, it is a “bundler” of investments. The Chinese subsidiary that we know has interests in TGP Rise Climate is the Silk Road Fund. It becomes difficult to understand to what degree Chinese entities (government and private sector) are involved because Chinese corporations rarely disseminate audited by third party Financial Reports and if they did, it would challenge logic to believe them.
Geology must ultimately dictate where CO2 is sequestered and USGS makes such determinations:
https://co2public.er.usgs.gov/viewer/
Summit claims they have to bore to know what the rock and soil structure below the pipeline is like. They claim they will pay any crop damage and South Duhkota magats gave them permission to trespass without having permits.
Someone should file eminent domain on the capitol and tear it down and install a pot palace, but keep the fence around the property to keep the fuzz out.
It should be obvious to all of you all: Mr. Pay is heavily invested in Summit!
Indirectly.
Have you ever seen an issue that is so emotionally hot, has drawn support from so many political and economic demographics and speaks clearly to one central point? That point is a group of wealthy entrepreneurs are in the act of robbing property rights from hundreds of people to fill their pockets.
Never stray from that simple point.
– Noem’s trying to push you down a rabbit hole. She lies about her support for the landowners to cover her butt, but then she lies about China so that we’re talking about China instead of how Summit is stealing our property rights to fill their pockets. She’s not your friend.
– Virginia lobbyist and crazed rightwing jackal Tom DeWeese says he supports the landowners, but then he lies about climate change and clean energy. Get it? Now you’re focusing on climate change and clean energy, and not the theft of our land. He’s not your friend.
– Damn fool legislator Al Novstrup shows up to the landowners’ rally and shifts the focus to digital currency. Not your friend.
If lefties show up to talk about climate change, they’re not being your friend either. But they will get behind you on the simple truth that theft and greed are wrong.
Noem and Lee Schoenbeck want us to keep talking about the futility of holding a special session. At least Lee is honest about it (lately) because he opposes any challenge to eminent domain and the fat cats who abuse it to steal our land. Noem is just incredibly lazy and won’t lift a finger to back up her word (how soon we forget about her sales tax on food pledge). She wants the landowners to chase their tales and waste time — and just leave her alone.
C’mon folks! The reason these clowns are deflecting from the winning, central point is it keeps people divided and wasting time and energy. Some message discipline is needed here — they abuse eminent domain to steal our land and fill their pockets.
There isn’t a reason why a vast majority of South Dakota voters of all stripes are not out there protesting for a special session to stop this boondoggle. It is not an article of faith in this state to steal other people’s land. This is an easy one. Make noise. Lots of noise! Stick to your winning point. Get those deadbeat legislators back to Pierre and pass laws to stop the theft.
The Borehole, Mr. Tears. The Borehole.
grudznick was investing in that one. #4Science
That the thing that calls itself “grudznick” and this interested party agree that South Dakota is the appropriate dump site for this greenwashing hokum is remarkable, indeed. A giant borehole just outside Aurora to sequester some rich guy’s toxic legacy makes perfect sense.
It would be an amazing engineering marvel to save some $4.5 billion and have SDSU collaborate with the Corps to drill deep into Brookings County then bury CO2 for decades to come where it could never hurt a living soul. How much worse could it be than poisoning Sioux Falls. No biggie.
Everything east of Oacoma is Cleveland anyway: right, crudzdick?
96 Tears is correct. Keep your eye on the ball. This China thing is distraction. There are so many American companies and state government investment and teacher retirement bureaus involved in TPG Rise Climate that its laughable that the Silk Road Fund is thought to make that much difference. Also, TPG Rise Climate is providing funding to 10-20 projects all over the world, not just Summit, and from what I’ve seen Silk Road made its investment way before Summit was even a thing. Pretty soon we’ll be screaming , “Teachers are funding Summit.” I know there are lots of conspiracy theorists out there, but keep your eye on the ball that’s rolling you over. Eminent domain has been an issue for decades in South Dakota. We had to deal with it in the ETSI fight, the MANDAN Powerline, etc., etc.
Looks like Mrs. Noem is bankrolling the Summit boondoggle.
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2023/06/30/noem-investor-in-ethanol-plant-partnered-with-carbon-pipeline-company/
Good one, Larry. Of course her spokesperson will claim somehow she’s the “Real Victim “ in this disclosure. Albeit, she appears to be “ridin’ dirty!”
Malarkey! From the first – when it comes to noem and the republicants there is one rule — follow the money!
Noem is indirectly invested in the pipeline. Noem could care less about the “landowners” and “imminent domain” so long as it doesn’t hurt her investment.
“Gov. Kristi Noem is an investor in an ethanol plant that’s partnered with a company proposing a controversial carbon dioxide pipeline.”
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2023/06/30/noem-investor-in-ethanol-plant-partnered-with-carbon-pipeline-company/
https://www.nwestiowa.com/news/iowa-fast-tracks-summit-pipeline-hearing/article_72b36c58-11f5-11ee-b675-93f7e03413ed.html
Was in October. Now it is August and many farmers think it was done deliberately to disadvantage farmers. Noem Jr, aka Reynolds wrap, installed 2 of the three IUP members in May and the past 2 legislative sessions have killed efforts to limit/eliminate eminent domain, which polls show majority of iowans favor.