The Iowa Utilities Board voted this week to give the green light for a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy transfer Partners to begin work in the state as part of a nearly $4 billion pipeline to carry Bakken oil from North Dakota to Illinois.
The vote was 2-1 on the three member board in favor of an order allowing Dakota Access LLC to start laying pipeline in the nearly 1,150 mile project that will go through at least four states. The board supported the project despite the opposition of environmental and citizen action organizations as well as landowners who have gone to court with lawsuits in an attempt to stop the construction.
The vote applies to land outside 60 tracts of land on which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has to issue permits, including river crossings and a newly-discovered Native American burial site in the northwest part of Iowa.
The Sierra Club contends the board’s action was illegal because under Iowa law, once the board decision is appealed to district court, the board cannot take any further action. The Club filed a document with the board stating its action was illegal and attorney Wallace Taylor, representing the Sierra Club said he might file a legal challenge.
Construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline is already underway in North and South Dakota as well as Illinois. three lawsuits have been filed challenging the Iowa board’s authority to allow the Dakota Access LLC to employ eminent domain. One of the suits was filed by the Sierra Club.
Still, a Dakota Access company spokeswoman indicated construction would begin immediately on the land covered by the Utilities Board decision.