IUB pipeline hearing brings vocal opponents

BOONE — Chants of "No Bakken" and applause, hoots and hollers from labor union members intermittently filled the small hall at the Boone County Fairgrounds Thursday as the Iowa Utilities Board held its first day of hearings to decide the fate of the proposed Bakken Oil Pipeline.

But decorum held among the roughly 200 spectators during the IUB hearing, which will determine if Dakota Access, LLC will be granted the use of eminent domain to obtain land for the pipeline from nay-saying landowners.

Dakota Access — a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners — filed a petition with the IUB in January asking for the three-member panel's authorization to construct a 343.43 mile segment of the crude oil pipeline through 18 Iowa counties.

The pipeline would carry 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the state. The 1,134-mile pipeline will carry the crude from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to a hub in Patoka, Ill and on to gulf coast refineries.

Landowners opposed to the development of the pipeline on grounds of environmental impact and property rights urged the IUB Thursday to deny Dakota Access' permit.

Sully resident Brenda Newell's family has land in the proposed pipeline path. She called the Texas oil company officials dishonest in their dealings with her father Carl Van Zee and uncle Lloyd Van Zee, who own farmland in a South Skunk River flood plain.

Lloyd signed agreements with Dakota Access, Newell said, to allow the company to both survey their family land and provide a voluntary easement only if his brother Carl was in agreement. The Sully resident claimed at the hearing Dakota Access surveyed their property and sent him a $22,000 easement check without the additional permission from the property's co-owner.

"Eminent domain should not be used. The pipeline is not for public use. Dakota Access is clearly a private company intending to take private land for their own profit," she said. "There is no benefit for Iowa. There is no guarantee oil prices will decrease for consumers. Rail lines will still be used for transporting oil. It will not eliminate spills from truck or rail accidents."

During her testimony Thursday, Mingo landowner Kathy Holdefer — who petitioned the Jasper County Board of Supervisors Tuesday to pass a resolution denying Dakota Access the ability to construct locally — cited a statement by supervisor Denny Carpenter who insinuated state regulators are already leaning toward approving the project.

Supporters of the pipeline were largely represented in Boone by members of labor unions, including a strong presence by Laborers' International Union of North America and various local Iowa chapters.

Union testimony centered around improved safety technology in pipeline construction, U.S. energy independence and reps argued the project would help reduce the need for oil imports which supporters trumpeted Thursday contributes to national security and brings U.S. troops out of the Middle East.

But detractors of the project continued to call Dakota Access' jobs projections during pipeline construction an overestimation and pointed out the construction jobs will be temporary.

Nick Rymek, of Waukee, is a third generation union laborer and testified in support of the pipeline's construction Thursday. He explained the point many labor union representatives pushed at the hearing, that all construction projects —not just the Bakken pipeline — are temporary.

“Some people will say it’s a temporary job. But every project has to break ground and every has to come to an end. This is how the career of a construction worker is," Rymek said. "We complete one project and move on to the next. If you do that for a lifetime you have yourself a career.”

Rymek said, due to the special skills necessary, the pipeline project would have higher wages than a typical construction job — with health care and pension benefits. Dakota Access has projected the construction would create 2,000 to 4,000 temporary construction jobs over a one to two-year period.

Opponents of the pipeline outnumbered supporters at the hearing by 10 speakers, according to registration information provided by IUB. But roughly 60 percent of the 134 pipeline supporters who testified in Boone were from outside Iowa — hailing from states such as Illinois, Texas, Nebraska and Missouri — and most were labor union representatives.

But one former union railroad employee said she sees the Bakken pipeline as job killer for other industries that transport crude oil in Iowa.

Cheryl Valenta, of Cedar Rapids, is a former Rail Workers Union member. In her testimony against the project, she said the temporary union jobs created by the pipeline's construction would take permanent union jobs from Iowa rail workers.

"Taking away 12,000 union jobs held in Iowa by permanent residents for 4,000 temporary construction jobs is not beneficial to the overall health of our state."

Outside the event hall Thursday, roughly 50 protesters gathered at 8:30 a.m. to rally against the pipeline. In the afternoon, union workers ate at a food truck provided by LIUNA. Testimony ran from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The IUB hearing will continue Monday with evidentiary testimony. The hearing process is slated run through Dec. 3. The IUB is expected to make its decision on the Dakota Access permit by late December or January 2016.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhal@newtondailynews.com