Northwest Iowa — A ruling on the latest lawsuit to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline may not come until next year. The Dakota Access Pipeline is planned to run from the North Dakota oilfields, diagonally across parts of Iowa, including Lyon, Sioux and O’Brien counties.
Nine Iowa farmers and landowners were in court last week to challenge the granting of eminent domain powers to Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline’s owners. Ed Fallon, state director of BOLD Iowa, says the case has national implications.
Whatever the judge’s ruling, Fallon says both sides will likely appeal if the decision goes against them. He says there’s a lot at stake for Iowa landowners.
Fallon says the ideal ruling would force the company to remove the pipeline and restore the land across all 18 Iowa counties.
The U-S Army Corps of Engineers has halted the pipeline in North Dakota, but the other states involved have already approved it, including South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
