Bakken Supporter: It’s Time To Move Ahead

Dakota Access Bakken Crude Pipeline Route IowaNorthwest Iowa — A supporter of the proposed Bakken oil pipeline, that would ship Bakken crude oil from North Dakota, diagonally through Iowa, including portions of Lyon, Sioux and O’Brien counties, is urging all parties involved to start working together to make the embattled project a reality.

Ed Wiederstein, chairman of the Midwest Coalition for Infrastructure Now, says it was a big step for the Iowa Utilities Board last week to reject the request from environmental groups for a rehearing on the pipeline permit.

The project by Energy Transfer Partners of Texas will ship crude oil from North Dakota across South Dakota into Iowa and end up in Illinois. All of the states have approved the pipeline project but it also needs the okay of the U-S Army Corps of Engineers. Wiederstein is hoping the Corps will follow through and allow the construction to get underway.

It could be June before the Corps makes its decision on the project. Wiederstein says there are many benefits to having the Bakken pipeline built.

The Iowa Utilities Board voted unanimously on March 10th to grant Dakota Access a permit to build 346 miles of the pipeline which will cut through 18 Iowa counties. The board then issued the permit on April 8th after Dakota Access completed certain compliance filings required by the board. The I-U-B has finished what’s called a complaint proceeding for allegations that Dakota Access began construction of the pipeline before the permit was actually issued. The I-U-B ruled the company was only doing preliminary survey work on the route and had not begun construction.

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