Deep borehole could be resurrected after Summit defeat

In 2016 the Department of Energy and Republican former President Heather Wilson of the South Dakota School of Mines later Air Force Secretary in the first Trump term a Rapid City firm specializing in toxic waste floated the idea of a deep borehole in Spink or Haakon Counties where contaminated materials could be dumped. Albuquerque-based Valero Energy, a chemical company that is was one of Heather Wilson's favorite benefactors and has an ethanol processing scheme in Aurora, South Dakota has given Republican now US Senator Mike Rounds at least $10,000 in campaign contributions. 

Then because the state relies on taxpayer help to finance improvements to infrastructure, South Dakota received nearly $27 million from the Federal Railroad Administration in both 2022 and 2023 through what’s known as federal Short-Time Compensation program. Aurora sits on the tracks of the Rapid City Pierre and Eastern Railroad which also go through Haakon County.

After public outcry scuttled its eminent domain scam federally subsidized Sioux Falls, South Dakota chemical company POET, that enables nitrate pollution to grow corn for ethanol, entered an agreement to transport waste carbon dioxide through Nebraska in an existing natural gas pipeline to a sequestration site in Wyoming. After being denied permits Summit Carbon Solutions is petitioning courts to end litigation where they are the plaintiffs.

Some Great Plains states, such as Minnesota and Wyoming, report on the total tonnage of hazardous materials carried by rail in their states, but South Dakota does not. In an email response to questions, Jack Dokken, the air, rail and transit program manager for the South Dakota Department of Transportation, said the federal government is responsible for regulating rail shipments in South Dakota, but the state can respond to a release of hazardous materials. [11 billion-pound mystery: The chemicals South Dakota trains carry]

Republican then-US Representative Kristi Noem balked at the idea of storing nuclear materials underground but as governor she signed SB 201 which some call the "Landowner Bill of Rights" further splitting the South Dakota Republican Party and caving to the Green New Deal.

South Dakota is a sacrifice zone so if Earth haters like Pat Powers believe CO2 can be transported safely trains carrying it through Brookings to a site West River then buried under the Pierre Shale should be perfectly fine, right?