Bakken Pipeline gets initial approval to start construction

DES MOINES - Work could soon begin in Iowa on Dakota Access LLC's interstate crude oil pipeline.

Members of the Iowa Utilities Board on Wednesday directed staff to draft an order to allow Dakota Access to begin construction on portions of the Bakken pipeline not under federal rule and where all other approvals have been granted.

This would cover the bulk of the project in Iowa, officials said, noting Dakota Access still is awaiting other approval on certain portions of the pipeline.

Members of the three-member utilities board said Wednesday's move is instep with the board's March 10 order granting Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, a hazardous liquid pipeline permit and the power to use eminent domain to acquire farmland for the pipeline.

'I think following that, we would be in the same realm to say they could begin construction in areas of which they have all necessary approvals, permits and easements,” Board member Nick Wagner said.

Adam Mason, state policy director with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, argued otherwise.

'What we're hearing the board propose to do is a clear modification of their original order. They have consistently said that construction could not start until all permits are met, and the fact remains that they don't have the Army Corps' permit and the DNR permit has been revoked,” Mason said. after the meeting. 'So we anticipate legal challenges if they do in fact modify their original permit. More Iowans don't want this pipeline and are going to continue to fight this tooth and nail.”

David Lynch, staff general counsel, said he should have the order drafted by the end of the week and board members could either sign the document or discuss the matter again at a future meeting.

Essentially, the order would allow work to begin on segments of the pipeline where voluntary easement agreements have been secured. Officials with Dakota Access have said they have secured such agreements with 96 percent of property owners along its 1,168-mile path from North Dakota oil fields, through South Dakota and Iowa, to a distribution hub in Illinois. Dakota Access officials plan to complete the $3.8 billion pipeline by the end of the year.

'I'm very pleased with it, we will have over 400 operating engineers willing to go to work. We've got work going on in all the states around us,” said Chad Carter, vice president and business representative for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local No. 234 in Des Moines.

The Texas company still is awaiting construction approval from the Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction on about 2.5 percent of the land in Iowa.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revoked its approval for one segment of the pipeline in the Big Sioux River Wildlife Management Area in Lyon County after the Upper Sioux tribe stated the land had a sacred tribal burial ground with human remains. Construction will not be allowed there until after officials investigate the veracity of the claim.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter has filed a lawsuit in Polk County District Court to block the pipeline.

Wally Taylor, a lawyer with the environmental group, filed a petition against the Iowa Utilities Board and Dakota Access seeking judicial review of an order granting Dakota Access permission to construct a hazardous liquid pipeline. The petition was filed on May 26, and the case was created on Tuesday.

Landowners have also filed a lawsuit in the case, and others - including native tribes and the Iowa State Archaeologist - have intervened to raise concerns over cultural impacts of construction.