Iowa regulators indicated they are about to give the go-ahead for a Texas energy company to build a 346 mile long Bakken oil pipeline carrying a $3.78 billion price tag.
Two of the three members of the Iowa Utilities Board indicated they are prepared to approve the request made by Dakota Access LLC, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the same group that’s in the middle of a messy-merger controversy with Tulsa-based Williams Companies.
“Authorizing construct would seem to be the next logical step according to Libby Jacobs, one of the board members. Construction is already underway in North Dakota according to the Des Moines Register. The paper also says opponents are prepared to file a lawsuit to stop the project in Iowa. Several such suits are said to be pending by landowners fighting the use of eminent domain to seize the land for the construction of the pipeline that will carry Bakken oil to Illinois.
But the pipeline is supported by labor unions who say the project will require 2,000 to 4,000 construction workers.
“We are very pleased,” said Chad Carter, business agent and vice president of Local 234 of the Operating engineers in Des Moines. “I have over 400 members that I need to get to work in Iowa.”
He said if the project is delayed any further, those Iowa union members will head to jobs in other states.
