March 29, 2024

Bakken pipeline 100 percent in the ground in Iowa

Clean-up, restoration nearly two-thirds complete in Jasper County

Dakota Access, LLC is reporting primary construction of the 343-mile Iowa stretch of the Bakken pipeline is complete, in the ground and covered, according to a report filed Wednesday by the company with the Iowa Utilities Board.

The report shows pipeline crews’ progress as of Nov. 13, and in Jasper County construction workers are 72.3 percent complete with clean-up and ground restoration. The pipeline is split into four construction spreads in Iowa. In Jasper County spreads 2 and 3 are split at Interstate 80. The reports shows 51 percent of the parcels from Interstate 80 to Jasper County’s southeastern border near Reasnor have been restored. Project land from Interstate 80 to the county’s northwestern border near Baxter and Mingo is now 100 percent restored, according to Dakota Access.

Dakota Access has also been conducting hydro-testing on the pipeline, according to the report, to check for leaks and pressure issues. Statewide, 83 percent of the Iowa segment has been hydro-tested as of Nov. 13, up from 61 percent in the previous report. All of the pipeline laid in Jasper County has been hydro-tested.

The four-state, $3.8 billion crude oil pipeline is nearing the end of its construction phase, but is still facing a small contingent of opposition in Iowa. If completed, the 1,164-mile pipeline will be connected to the Bakken Oil Fields of North Dakota with refineries and a hub in Patoka, Ill.

Last week’s report was released following an IUB order adding and updating provisions to the Iowa Winter Construction Plan, originally submitted by Dakota Access on Aug. 4.

The Northwest Iowa Landowner’s Association, one of the lead groups opposing the pipeline in Iowa, filed proposed revisions to the plan and an Nov. 17 order from the IUB addressed several of the groups concerns.

IUB staff said the purpose of the winter construction plan is to “outline procedures for construction in extreme low temperatures or in the event of considerable precipitation in the form of snow or ice. The plan includes precautions on using frozen soil as trench backfill, on using frozen topsoil during land restoration activities, and on snow handling, including not mixing snow with the soil.”

In the Nov. 17 order, IUB is requiring Dakota Access to file a revised plan that specifically states the conditions of winter soil in which they are allowed to conduct construction. IUB staff said due to the possibility of a “wet sloppy winter where saturated soils do not dry and the ground surface remains soft,” the county inspectors shouldn’t raise any issues with Dakota Access.

The IUB struck down a proposal by NILA to require county-level inspectors to keep a separate log of all construction activities as part of the winter construction play. But the board is requiring Dakota Access to maintain a list of each parcel where winter construction activities take place. The pipeline company’s weekly reports now will also include an additional column showing by county the number of parcels where winter construction activities have taken place.

Challenges by NILA to keep Dakota Access from piling snow within the easement right-of-way and using frozen soil as backfill were also dismissed by the IUB.

These latest developments in Iowa come as protests in North Dakota by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop the pipeline from being constructed in a watershed near their reservation are intensifying.

According to the Associated Press, protesters were setting up more tents at an encampment on Saturday, a little more than a mile from the Missouri River reservoir where the last stretch of the pipeline is yet to be completed due to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers talks with the tribe.

The Corps has yet to issue Dakota Access permits to bore underneath the reservoir due to concerns over the pipeline’s possible affects on the Standing Rock reservation’s drinking water.

Some of the protests have resulted in violent confrontations between activists and law enforcement. Last weekend a woman suffered a severe arm injury and more than 500 people have been arrested since August, the AP reports.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com