Trump revives Dakota Access, Keystone pipelines

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump signed executive actions Tuesday intended to accelerate the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipeline projects, rolling back key Obama administration environmental practices in favor of expanding fossil fuel energy infrastructure.

It remains unclear just how Trump's actions will influence progress on the two pipelines - one almost done and the other never approved.

Trump's order on the Dakota Access pipeline addresses a missing segment in North Dakota that has drawn thousands of protesters and additional review for an easement from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Trump's order directs the Army Corps to 'review and approve in an expedited manner, to the extent permitted by law.”

His order for the Keystone XL project 'invites” TransCanada Corp., the company that former President Barack Obama had denied permission in 2015, to 'resubmit its application.”

In response, the company said in a statement it was preparing a new application. But Trump said the project would be subject to some sort of renegotiation.

USE OF AMERICAN STEEL

In an Oval Office signing before reporters, the president said he wants any new pipeline to make use of American steel, though that requirement is not mentioned in his executive actions.

'I am very insistent that if we're going to build pipelines in the United States, the pipe should be made in the United States,” he said.

The orders likely will have the most immediate impact in North Dakota, where Energy Transfer Partners wants to complete the final piece of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access pipeline route that runs under Lake Oahe on the Missouri River.

The pipeline would carry oil from the shale reserves in North Dakota to refineries and pipeline networks in Illinois - crossing Iowa from northwest to southeast.

The orders are a bitter defeat for Native American tribes affected by the $3.8 billion Dakota Access line after massive protests delayed the link.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation is adjacent to the Dakota Access route, had won a key victory when the Army Corps in early December turned down Energy Transfer Partners' request for an easement to tunnel under Lake Oahe and ordered a review that could take months - or more.

The tribe opposed the pipeline out of concern a spill could pollute its drinking water and threaten Native American cultural sites.

TRIBE VOWS PUSHBACK

Jan Hasselman, attorney for the tribe, said Tuesday it would push back with a lawsuit defending the Corps' decision, which includes looking for other routes.

In a statement, the tribe declared Trump's action to be in violation of its treaty rights.

'The Trump administration's politically motivated decision violates the law and the tribe will take action to fight it,” tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said.

Trump's long-anticipated action to jump-start the project likely will attract more opponents to North Dakota. An encampment near Cannon Ball served as home base for thousands of protesters from around the nation, but many left after the project was delayed.

Police are promising a stiff resistance to any interference. The Morton County Sheriff's Office in North Dakota has requested assistance from the federal government to provide increased police presence if needed.

KEYSTONE COMEBACK?

The 1,179-mile Keystone XL was planned to move 830,000 barrels per day of oil sands crude from Hardisty, Alberta, across the border to Steele City, Neb., where it would connect with another pipeline.

The project required a presidential certificate to allow it to cross the border, which TransCanada sought in 2008.

Obama later rejected it after environmentalists campaigned against it for years. He said the project would contribute to climate change because it would carry tar sands crude, which is greenhouse gas-intensive due to the energy it takes to extract the thick crude.

It's unclear what impact Trump's insistence on renegotiation means. Originally, TransCanada planned to get 65 percent of its steel from U.S. manufacturers and other supplies from Canada.

The company's statement Tuesday was silent on what it intends now.

The Washington Post, Seattle Times and Reuters contributed to this report.