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Iowa board says Dakota Access pipeline ruling coming this winter
Erin Murphy
Jun. 9, 2015 3:42 pm
DES MOINES - A state board plans to rule on a proposed crude oil pipeline in December or January, roughly a month after holding a public hearing, state documents show.
The Iowa Utilities Board this week published a timeline for ruling on the proposed $3.8 billion, 1,134-mile Dakota Access Pipeline.
According to Monday's filing, the board has set aside more than three weeks, from Nov. 12 to Dec. 5, for a public hearing on the project.
That puts the board on schedule to make a final decision 'in late December of 2015 or early January of 2016,” according to the filing.
The proposed pipeline would carry crude oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to a crude oil hub in Illinois. The pipeline would cross Iowa from its northwest to southeast corners.
Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer, says the pipeline would transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
Critics of the pipeline cite safety concerns over potential leaks and decry the use of eminent domain to run the pipeline through farmland.
The timeline published this week also contains other dates, including an Aug. 10 deadline for Dakota Access to file its information on its request for use of eminent domain.
Those seeking to comment on the permitting process must do so by July 27.
Dakota Access petitioned the state for a permit in January. In December 2014, the state held public hearings in each of the 18 counties through which the pipeline would run.