Northwest Iowa — The Iowa Utilities Board heard an update on the progress of the Dakota Access Pipeline through the state and complaints from those who oppose it at their meeting Thursday. The Dakota Access Pipeline, when finished, will pump Bakken crude oil from the oil fields of North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois, cutting diagonally across Iowa from northwest to southeast, passing through portions of Lyon, Sioux and O’Brien counties.
I-U-B attorney David Lynch gave the latest progress report from the company.
Lynch says work is more than halfway done in finishing up construction.
Lynch told the three board members information from the board has been filed in the lawsuit against the pipeline. He says those who filed the lawsuit have until next Monday November 21st to file their reply briefs, and the oral arguments before the district court are still set for December 15th. Lynch says they received three more complaints about the pipeline since the last meeting.
The board heard from two representatives of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Mark Edwards talked about concerns that the pipeline workers did not drain water away from the areas where they worked. He told the board it was difficult to get complaints addressed and says the county board of supervisors did not want to take action because they were afraid of being sued.
Carolyn Raffensburger also spoke about what she says are violations by the construction company, including continuing construction on land that was inundated with water.
Raffensburger made another plea for the construction to stop.
The I-U-B also heard from people about the pipeline during their public comment period. They listened for around 30 minutes to comments of those who are opposed to the pipeline. The board did not give any response to the comments.
