Board approves Bakken pipeline

After weeks of public deliberations, the wait is finally over; the Iowa Utilities Board came to a decision Thursday afternoon granting Dakota Access LLC ? a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP ? a permit for a Hazardous Liquid Pipeline to run through 18 Iowa counties including Jefferson.

However, according to a press release, the board won?t issue the permit unless the firm meets certain conditions specified in the board?s written order. Furthermore, the construction on the pipeline will not commence until after the permit is issued.

According to the order, Dakota Access must obtain and maintain a general liability insurance policy in the amount of at least $25 million; The firm must demonstrate and file the unconditional and irrevocable guarantees from its parent companies for remediation of damages from a leak or spill; Dakota Access must make modifications to easement forms on properties utilizing eminent domain to include the removal of language that would have allowed valves on any condemned parcel and the removal of language that would have allowed company access on any portion of a condemned parcel; the company must continue to offer to purchase voluntary easements, with the same terms and conditions already offered to landowners, for the best prices that have already been offered by Dakota Access, at least until the county compensation commission meets to assess the damages for each taking. Dakota Access must file a revised Agricultural Impact Mitigation Plan to include landowner notifications and the separation of all topsoil from affected areas; Dakota Access must file a Winter Construction Plan; Dakota Access must file quarterly status reports. Dakota Access must file a statement accepting the terms and conditions the board has determined to be just and proper for the permit.

?We are pleased with the decisions rendered by the Iowa Utilities Board and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. We now have the necessary decisions from all four states regarding this important energy infrastructure project,? said Vicki Anderson Granado of Dakota Access. ?As of today, Dakota Access has secured voluntary easement agreements on 90 percent of the properties across the four-state route with 97 percent in North Dakota, 93 percent in South Dakota, 82 percent in Iowa, and 92 percent in Illinois. Dakota Access will continue to work with landowners to negotiate voluntary easement agreements as construction begins.?

Although the wait might be over when it comes to the IUB?s decision, the Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition, which encompasses 28 statewide member organizations including No Bakken Here of Jefferson County, is poised and ready for a battle.

?As a matter of fact, this is just the beginning,? said Jonas Magram of No Bakken Here said. ?The good news is, that there remain many hurdles the project must clear before the Bakken pipeline starts spilling its oil in our state. Among these, is the right of intervening opponents of the project to appeal the IUB?s decision before a judge, and the right of some 250 landowners to sue Dakota access to challenge its legal authority to take their land through eminent domain.?

Magram plans to attend a meeting in Des Moines next week to discuss additional strategies for stopping what he called, ?this terrible idea for Iowa.?

?There is just too much at stake ? landowners? rights, our soil, water, and wildlife, and leaving our children and grandchildren with a stable, life-sustaining climate ? to quit now. More importantly, we need every concerned citizen to support this fight in every way they can,? Magram said.

Jefferson County Supervisor Lee Dimmitt said the board of supervisors recently sent a resolution to the IUB asking it to consider raising the $250,000 surety bond required by Dakota Access, which it did raise to $25 million.

?There really wasn?t any thing we felt like $250,000 from the state of Iowa would do if a spill were to occur,? Dimmit said, commenting that he didn?t think the resolution from Jefferson County was the catalyst for the IUB?s decision to increase the requirement, but that other counties around the state might have submitted similar resolutions.

?We didn?t impact the IUB singularly, that was one of the concern of a lot of counties to make sure that the burden of cleanup would be the responsibility of the pipeline and not the counties,? Dimmitt said. ?It?s important to note that they are under the jurisdiction of the federal government, and they are required by federal law to pay for the clean up ? it?s not an unreasonable request.?

Dimmitt said the county would hire French-Reneker Associates to oversee construction and assist property owners to ensure everything runs smoothly.

?[Jefferson County engineer] Scott Cline, will oversee anything that has to do with our roads and bridges and the pipeline will be paying for any engineering expenses that we incur so the citizens won?t have to pay for that,? Dimmitt said.