API, Building Trade Unions Call For Upholding Law on Pipeline

“We are deeply disturbed by the unprecedented action taken by President Obama to supersede the decision of a federal court judge and halt the lawful construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline Project,” said said
McGarvey. “Union members have been relying on these excellent, family-supporting, middle-class jobs with family healthcare, pensions, and good wages for over six months. The administration’s attempts to shut down construction
of the Dakota Access Pipeline show that it is putting politics ahead of the rule of law. We fear that President Obama has now set a dangerous precedent where political considerations can now thwart or delay every single infrastructure project moving forward.”

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners is constructing the 1172-mile pipeline to transport crude from the oil-rich Bakken Formation in North Dakota to Illinois. The line will carry 470,000 bbld to refineries and markets. In shutting the pipeline segment, the administration was responding to months of protests by Indian tribes and environmental activists who claim the pipeline encroaches on sacred tribal sites and endangers the environment and fresh water supplies. Prior to the administration’s halt order, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit by the Standing Rock Sioux Indian tribe against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding the permitting process the corps used to approve construction.

The project is nearly 60% complete and employs more than 8000 workers. More than $1.6 billion has been spent to date. “The right of way for the entire pipeline has been obtained,” Energy Transfer Partners said in a statement. “All four states the pipeline traverses—North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, and Iowa—have issued favorable certificates, permits, and approvals for construction.” Energy Transfer adds that “nearly the entire Dakota Access Pipeline route is across private land. In addition, neither the land abutting nor Lake Oahe itself is subject to Native American control or ownership. Despite this, we worked to meet with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe leaders on multiple occasions in the past two years and gave the U.S. Army Corps data for their 389 meetings with more than 55 tribes across the project, including nine with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at Lake Oahe.”

The company emphasizes that nearly the entire project route in North Dakota, and the entire portion protestors are focused on, is located immediately adjacent to an existing natural gas pipeline built in 1982. The route also parallels a high-voltage electric transmission line. “Concerns about the pipeline’s impact on the local water supply are unfounded,” Energy Transfer asserts. “Multiple pipelines, railways, and highways cross the Missouri River today, carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil. Dakota Access was designed with tremendous safety factors and redundancies, including compliance with and exceeding all safety and environmental regulations.”

“Infrastructure plays a critical role in maintaining and growing America’s energy renaissance and it’s important that our energy infrastructure is able to meet the needs of consumers and our growing economy,” said Gerard. “With the Dakota Access Pipeline, the administration’s recent attempts to change the rules, in the middle of the game, set a dangerous precedent for our country that could threaten all other infrastructure projects like bridges, roads, and electricity transmission. Moving forward, it critical that the rule of law is followed as the need for new energy infrastructure grows.”