Northwest Iowa — The Dakota Access Pipeline, which will transports Bakken crude oil from the oil fields of North Dakota, through Lyon, Sioux, and O’Brien counties on it’s way to an Illinois terminal, is facing yet another potential roadblock, even as construction is underway on parts of the pipeline’s route, including the portion here in northwest Iowa.
The Davis Brown Law firm represents 14 landowners in Iowa, and says the construction of the pipeline should be stopped until a lawsuit over whether the company can use eminent domain to acquire land is decided. The Iowa Utilities Board ruled Dakota Access can use eminent domain to gain the land it needs for the pipeline, and construction started in July. The lawsuit says the I-U-B misinterpreted the law. The latest filing says the owners of the land would be irreparably harmed if the construction is allowed to go ahead before the eminent domain issue is decided. Cara Seidl is a spokesperson for the law firm representing the landowners.
She says she isn’t sure how long it might take for a ruling on the request.
Meanwhile, The pipeline installation crews have been making progress in northwest Iowa. On Monday, August 8th, according to Sioux County officials, a crew installing the pipeline asked for Highway 60 to be closed north of Alton while they moved some equipment and slow-moving trailers across the northbound and southbound lanes of the highway. The highway was closed, and traffic was diverted, for about an hour.
Dakota Access says the pipeline will transport approximately 470,000 barrels per day with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels per day, or even more, which could represent about half the daily crude oil production in the Bakken area of North Dakota.
Dakota Access says shippers will be able to access multiple markets, including Midwest and East Coast markets as well as the Gulf Coast via the Nederland, Texas crude oil terminal facility of Sunoco Logistics Partners. An existing natural gas pipeline is being converted to transport crude oil from the Illinois end of the pipeline to the Texas facility near the Louisiana border and the Gulf of Mexico.
