Texas company files for pipeline permits through Iowa

The Texas energy company hoping to build a pipeline that would slice through Iowa filed for permits with the Iowa Utilities Board on Tuesday.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners announced plans to build a 1,100-mile-long pipeline, stretching from the Bakken supply area in North Dakota to Pakota, Ill., last July. The pipeline would cut diagonally across Iowa and 17 of its counties.

The $3.8 billion pipeline would have the capacity to move 450,000 barrels of oil a day to multiple markets, including the Midwest and East Coast, as well as the Gulf Coast through a second pipeline.

The company filed for the necessary permits in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois at the end of 2014. It also met with Iowa landowners on the proposed path during December.

Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for the proposed pipeline project, said it's a waiting game as the company must wait for the four state utilities boards to decide. If the boards approve, however, the company is 'on track” to have the pipeline in service by the first quarter of 2016, she said.

'As IUB and the other boards go through the process, we're still moving forward with our talks with landowners and easement discussions,” she said.

Rob Hillesland, spokesman for the Iowa Utilities Board, said the review process can be a long one.

Already, Iowans living along the proposed pathway have submitted objections and one Nebraska resident has submitted a letter of support to the Iowa Utilities Board.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, vocal opponents of the proposed pipeline, have asked the Iowa Utilities Board and Gov. Terry Branstad to reject Energy Transfer Partner's permit request.

The organization pointed to a Montana pipeline that burst over the weekend as a potential red flag. The burst sent as much as 50,400 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River and prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency, according to CNN.

'Our state legislators should be watching this oil spill in the Yellowstone River very closely,” said Angie Carter, CCI member. 'The proposed Bakken oil pipeline would cross all of our major rivers in Iowa, including the Missouri and the Mississippi. There is no reason our state should risk the drinking and recreational waters of all Iowans for an oil company's profits.”