Pipeline nearly done in Iowa, but protesters won't quit

Construction on the Dakota Access pipeline is nearly complete in Iowa, but protesters aren't giving up their fight.

About 100 activists opposed to the four-state, 1,172-mile crude oil pipeline staged a rally Tuesday outside the Neal Smith Federal Building in downtown Des Moines. It was part of a national day of action against the pipeline that included more than 200 organized protests in all 50 states.

But the reality in Iowa is that construction on the pipeline is mostly completed in 16 out of 18 counties along the route. Ninety-four percent of the pipeline in Iowa had been buried by Nov. 6, according to a report from Dakota Access.

Anti-pipeline leader Ed Fallon of Des Moines, who heads a group called Bold Iowa, said he is calling upon President Barack Obama and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to scrap the $3.8 billion project. Simply rerouting the pipeline in North Dakota to ease American Indian concerns about possible water contamination and disturbances of their ancestral lands isn't enough, he said.

"We are going to keep fighting this," said Fallon, who remarked that "almost done" is not the same as having the pipeline become operational.

Protests were being held Tuesday across the country, from California to Vermont. Activists called for demonstrations at Army Corps of Engineers offices and at banks financing the pipeline construction.

Fallon and other activists said they want to prevent the pipeline from ever transporting oil from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota through Iowa. They cite concerns about oil spills, a negative impact on climate change, and opposition to the use of eminent domain to obtain easements through Iowa farmland.

"If there is even a mile, or if there is even a foot that does not connect, there is going to be no oil running through it," Fallon added.

Zachary Ide of Des Moines said the pipeline crosses a farm near Fremont in southeast Iowa where his grandmother lives. He and other speakers criticized the Iowa Utilities Board for approving the project.

"When my family said they didn't want the pipeline, (the board) said, 'Too bad. That is just the way it is,' " Ide said.

Work on the pipeline has been at least temporarily halted in an area in North Dakota where American Indian tribes oppose it crossing the Missouri River. But in Iowa, the project should be finished before winter arrives, according to lawyers for Houston-based Dakota Access LLC. The company filed a progress report with the Iowa Utilities Board last week showing that 94 percent of the pipeline in Iowa has been welded, lowered into the ground and covered with earth as of Nov. 6. The pipeline will have the ability to transport up to 570,000 barrels of oil daily.

Heather Pearson, who farms near Logan in southwest Iowa, urged everyone to become a "pipeline fighter" and make their voices heard.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners and a subsidiary said Tuesday they are asking a federal court's permission for the pipeline to cross the Missouri River at Lake Oahe in North Dakota. They also want to finish the project without further action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mike Ralston, president of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, and Bill Gerhard, president of the Iowa State Building & Construction Trades Council, both issued statements Tuesday supporting completion of the pipeline construction.

Iowa landowners on pipeline work: 'They show no respect'

"The Obama administration's decision to continue delaying the completion of the Dakota Access pipeline threatens the safety and jobs of thousands of Americans and jeopardizes billions of dollars in future development," Gerhard said.

Supporters of the pipeline say it will provide a safer method of transporting crude oil than railroads or trucks, and it will free up freight railroads to transport Midwest grain shipments at harvest time. They also say the pipeline will reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.

Pipeline builder seeks court order

The company building a $3.8 billion oil pipeline sought a federal judge’s permission Tuesday to circumvent President Barack Obama’s administration and move ahead with a disputed section of the project in North Dakota. Energy Transfer Partners and a subsidiary asked the court to let them lay pipe under a Missouri River reservoir, a plan the Standing Rock Sioux says threatens its drinking water and cultural sites. The Army Corps of Engineers said Monday it needs more time to study the impact of the plan.

COST OF DELAYS: While President-elect Donald Trump, a pipeline supporter, likely would greenlight the project when he takes office in January, the company is trying to win federal approval — or a court order — to allow it to go forward now. The delay has already cost nearly $100 million, the company said in court documents, “and further delay in the consideration of this case would add millions of dollars more each month in costs which cannot be recovered.”

WASHINGTON BLAMED: In a statement Tuesday, the company blamed the Obama administration for “political interference” in the pipeline review process. The Army Corps referred a request for comment to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.