March 19, 2024

Locals react to pipeline decision

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Sunday afternoon it would deny Dakota Access, LLC the final construction permit needed to run the 1,164-mile Bakken pipeline underneath the Missouri River reservoir near the Stand Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, reverberations were felt throughout the project’s four state reach.

In Jasper County, where 34 miles for the 343-mile Iowa pipeline segment is now in the ground, activists and landowners were still trying to find ways to express their displeasure with the project even before the announcement.

Opponents of the project are holding a community meeting at 10:15 a.m. Saturday at the Newton Public Library to discuss an Dec. 15 hearing for nine Iowa landowners who have issued a lawsuit against the state of Iowa for alleged misuse of eminent domain with the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Primary construction on the pipeline was completed in November in Jasper County, and some landowners have mixed reactions to the process.

Bill Gannon is a landowner near Mingo who has a signed easement with Dakota Access, and the pipeline now runs underneath his 900-acre property. He said pipeline workers and Dakota Access representatives were “very cooperative and very professional” during the construction phase.

But Gannon is still opposed to the project and has been since he was first approached by the company in 2014. The Mingo landowner said he wouldn’t be upset if the pipeline never went into operation.

“I think that they didn’t deserve a permit in the first place,” Gannon said Monday morning after hearing the ruling. “They didn’t deserve it in Iowa. If the pipeline stays in the ground and doesn’t carry a drop of oil it wouldn’t bother me a bit.”

Kathy Holdefer owns one acre adjacent to Gannon’s property, and her parcel was listed as an affected property on the first draft of Dakota Access’s proposed route for the project. The pipeline was rerouted off her property, but she has continued to be an opponent of the project, even getting arrested in Sepetember for trespassing during a non-violent protest in Boone.

She is hosting the Dec. 10 meeting with Bold Iowa. She said she was sitting in a Newton restaurant when the news broke on Sunday.

“(It was) perfect because the pipeline affects Jasper County more than any other Iowa county,” she said. “I praise President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to deny the permit. It’s a huge step forward in our hopes to shut the entire pipeline down. Every single step that every person has taken – from writing a letter to the Army Corps or the president, to attending a rally, posting on social media to just offering a word of encouragement to those on the front lines of this battle – have made this victory possible. We will continue to fight.”

Some construction industry officials in the state were not happy about the Army Corps’ ruling.

Bill Gerhard, president of the labor interests group Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council, claims the project was denied because of the objection of just one special interest.

“It is completely unacceptable that the administration has denied the easement on the final, 1,000-foot section of an 1,200 mile project,” Gerhard said. “This project was denied because of special interest opponents who have already stated their mission is far greater than this particular project. The skilled tradesmen from many communities along the pipeline’s route already preparing for the coming economic boom that will accompany the construction phase of the project were dealt a serious blow by this decision.”

Many Laborers’ International Union of North America members worked on the pipeline in Jasper County, and the group’s president Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement Monday that the decision would likely be overturned after the new presidential administration is installed next year.

“Blocking the final portion of construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline after it is 93 percent complete and fully reviewed is a short-sighted, gutless and irresponsible decision. It only serves to prolong the conflict that is dividing communities in North Dakota and will most certainly be overturned either by the courts or President-Elect Donald Trump who has already made it clear that he intends to allow the project to move forward,” Gerhard said.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com