IUB approves Dakota Access pipeline

DES MOINES — The Iowa Utilities Board has approved a construction permit for the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline, one of the $3.7 billion, 1,168-mile project's last major regulatory hurdles in the state. The permit was approved with 3-0 vote.

The three-member, governor appointed panel returned to open session Thursday, following five day's of open deliberations and at least one day of closed-door discussion Wednesday at the board's hearing room near the state capitol in Des Moines.

The board has granted Dakota Access, LLC's pipeline construction permit allowing it to travel through 18 Iowa counties and will require landowners to enter into eminent domain negotiations with the private Texas-based company.

Dakota Access is a subsidiary of Texas based Energy Transfer Partners. The pipeline will stretch from North Dakota to a hub in Patoka, Ill. and gulf coast refineries— for the last 1.5 years. The pipeline will carry 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the state. ETP plans to lay 343.43 miles of underground pipe in Iowa, with 33.73 miles in rural areas of Jasper County from Mingo through rural Reasnor.

The IUB was the last of the four major public utility commissions to confirm the project. North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois utility regulators approved segments of the project in late 2015 and in January.

More details about the IUB's decision will be provided online as it becomes available as well as in Friday's edition of the Newton Daily News.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com