Dakota Access: an update

Amidst extensive protests across the world, Energy Transfer Partners – the company developing the controversial Dakota Access pipeline project – has vowed to press ahead with plans.

In a written statement, Energy Transfer Partners’s CEO, Kelcy Warren commented, saying that the company is committed to the project and will continue with its plans, despite strong opposition and a federal order to voluntarily halt construction near a American Indian reservation in North Dakota.

The statement also notes that Energy Transfer Partners will meet officials in Washington and that the media is providing misinformation. The company has stated that it will communicate correct information to the government and media more clearly.

"I am confident that as long as the government ultimately decides the fate of the project based on science and engineering, the Dakota Access pipeline will become operational. [...] So, we will continue to obey the rules and trust the process," Warren wrote.

Protests have been held in the US, Europe, Japan and New Zealand over the US$3.8 billion pipeline, which is planned to run through native American land in North Dakota.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has claimed that the proposed pipeline threatens their water supply and cultural heritage. The tribe is also challenging the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to grant approximately 200 permits at water crossings for the pipeline, based upon the same reasons.

Warren responded, stating: "Concerns about the pipeline's impact on the local water supply are unfounded."

The pipeline would extend 1172 mile and would carry nearly 500 000 bpd of crude oil from North Dakota's oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa, to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois.

Edited from various sources by Anna Nicklin

Sources: WDIO-TV, Blasting News, Fox News, The Guardian

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/regulations-and-standards/15092016/dakota-access-an-update/