Share your Bakken pipeline objections

To the editor:

Energy Transfer Partners of Texas has proposed a 346 mile 30” diameter pipeline to be built diagonally though Iowa. This pipeline would carry crude oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to Illinois to be refined and shipped to export locations. Energy Transfer Partners plans to use eminent domain to take Iowans' land if the land owners do not comply with acquisition offers.

This plan is wrong for Iowa. The oil will not be for use in Iowa. Property rights of Iowans could be violated in favor of a private company. Less than 10 full-time jobs are estimated to result from the built pipeline. Thousands of acres of prime Iowa crop land will be taken out of production. More carbon-based fuel will contribute to global climate change.

Pipelines, old and new, spill and leak. News reports show us the environmental devastation from pipeline disasters all over our country. It takes years to clean up the land and water after the devastation of a spill. Sometimes full cleanup is not possible. There remain unanswered questions as to who pays the costs of attempted cleanups.

For more information about this proposed pipeline, go to www.nobakken.com. We can participate in our democracy and let the decision-makers know how we feel about the Bakken Pipeline crossing our beautiful and bountiful state.

Virginia Meyer

Lone Tree