North Dakota delegation calls for uninterrupted DAPL service

Jan. 31—GRAND FORKS — North Dakota's federal delegation has called for the uninterrupted operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline following federal scrutiny on the pipeline's operations.

The review of the pipeline comes as its operators seek a Mineral Leasing Act easement for a 0.21-mile section of the pipeline that runs under Lake Oahe from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. An easement had been granted for the pipeline in 2017, but was vacated by a court order. Dakota Access has now reapplied for an easement with the same conditions as the vacated easement, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents.

As part of that application, Dakota Access was required to complete a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, in which the EPA identified "public health, welfare, and environmental quality concerns." As a result, Dakota Access will be required to complete a supplemental DEIS.

But in a letter signed Tuesday, Jan. 30, North Dakota's three congressmen say the supplemental DEIS is redundant, as the pipeline has cleared multiple environmental impact analyses in the past. They asked Michael Connor, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, to end the "seemingly endless" EIS process.

"It is impossible to claim DAPL has not been thoroughly vetted," U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong wrote in the letter.

This is the third time DAPL has been examined under the National Environmental Policy Act, according to a release from Cramer's office — a 1,261-page environmental assessment was done in 2016 and found no significant impact, and a court ordered remand analysis was conducted in 2017.

Among the EPA's concerns with the most recent DEIS are that the statement analyzes a volume of 1.1 million barrels per day, but does not consider the impact of a range of volumes; the statement minimizes the significance of the consequences of an oil spill in the Oahe Reservoir based on the remote likelihood of a spill occurring; the statement does not quantify all the greenhouse gas emissions of the pipeline; and the statement does not sufficiently consider the risk of a spill to tribal nations, to name a few.

Cramer, Hoeven and Armstrong argue, however, that they believe it is in the best interest of the state and the country to conclude the "seemingly endless" Environmental Impact Statement process.

"We are concerned the additional scrutiny being imposed on the project has little to do with actual environmental effects and more to do with opposing the type of fuel the infrastructure carries," the letter reads. "Unlike other pipeline debates, DAPL has been in operation for over six years, demonstrating an extensive record of moving well over half a million barrels of oil per day safely and cleanly."

If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denies the easement for the Lake Oahe crossing, Dakota Access could potentially move forward with a plan to instead reroute the pipeline along a route north of Bismarck, which would require further federal authorizations, EPA documents say.

The North Dakota delegation argues that this alternative would be costly and wasteful, could result in the abandonment of 100 miles of pipeline, could necessitate 112 miles of new ground that needs to be dug, and would leave more than 8,500 Standing Rock Sioux Tribe residents downstream of the pipeline, in addition to newly adding the residents of Bismarck-Mandan to the downstream area.

"Even if the route was to be pushed north, no problems would be solved," the letter reads.

DAPL is a crude oil pipeline that has been in operation since 2017. It is about 1,100 miles long and transports crude oil from the Bakken and Three Forks production region in North Dakota to a terminus in Patoka, Illinois, and ultimately to refineries in the Midwest and Gulf Coast.