Northwest Iowa — The two candidates for Iowa’s 4th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives are at odds over the Bakken Pipeline project, the pipeline that would move Bakken crude oil from the oil fields in North Dakota to a refinery in Illinois, passing through portions of Lyon, Sioux and O’Brien counties in the process.
Incumbent Republican Congressman Steve King says he’s hearing from landowners who are complaining the government’s eminent domain authority has been used to seize their private property for the pipeline being built through his district.
King says he is not opposed to construction of the pipeline, but suggests Iowa officials should have decided whether the pipeline was “a public utility” before granting developers permission to seize property for the project.
Sheldon resident Kim Weaver is King’s Democratic opponent for the 4th District seat.
The first time Weaver drove by a construction site where land was being cleared for the project, she says she stopped to take a picture.
The underground pipeline will ship crude oil from North Dakota, through South Dakota and diagonally through 18 Iowa counties, including Lyon, Sioux, and O’Brien, enroute to a refinery in Illinois. Company officials notified the Iowa Utilities Board that nearly 60 percent of the pipeline work in Iowa had been completed by October 9th. Federal authorities have joined local officials to investigate a recent arson fire that destroyed about two million dollars worth of pipeline equipment positioned in Jasper County.
Photo Caption: L to R – Democrat Challenger Kim Weaver, Republican Incumbent Congressman Steve King
