Northwest Iowa — The Iowa Utilities Board will hold a public hearing Thursday, November 12th at 9:00 am at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Boone to receive public input on the proposed Bakken Pipeline, which would run through portions of Lyon, Sioux and O’Brien counties here in northwest Iowa.
According to the Iowas Utilities Board, 281 people have signed up to speak at the meeting: 134 in favor of the proposed pipeline; 144 opposed to it; and 3 who are neutral. According to the IUB website, speakers will be allotted a maximum of two minutes to make comments. If each speaker list is completed before the end of the hearing on November 12, including any waiting lists, the Board will hear from unscheduled commenters until 5 p.m.
In addition to the speakers who have signed up to furnish their opinions, the IUB says that, as of Monday, they have received 5357 letters supporting the project, along with 4509 objecting.
After the hearing, the Board and its staff will review all of the evidence (testimony and exhibits) that has been received, including the evidence provided by Dakota Access, the developer of the proposed pipeline, and the evidence provided by the other parties. The Board will consider the evidence based on Iowa statutes, Utilities Board rules, and previous court cases, according to the IUB. Parties may file briefs after the hearing and, if they do, the Utilities Board will review the arguments in those briefs as part of the deliberations. The Board may then schedule a public meeting to discuss its decision, or it may simply issue a written decision. If a public meeting is scheduled, at the conclusion of that meeting the Board will make a tentative decision and direct its staff to prepare an appropriate written order. The Board’s decision will not be final until that written order is issued. The written decision will be served on each of the parties, according to the Iowa Utilities Board website.
Thursday’s public hearing may be viewed live, online, at https://iub.iowa.gov/live-video-pipeline-hearing.
