For folks interested in the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline - statement
released today:
"Army will not grant easement for Dakota Access Pipeline crossing
By U.S. ArmyDecember 4, 2016
Army POC: Moira Kelley (703) 614-3992, moira.l.kelley.civ@xxxxxxxx
The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the
proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, the
Army's Assistant Secretary for Civil Works announced today.
Jo-Ellen Darcy said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate
routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing. Her office had announced on
November 14, 2016 that it was delaying the decision on the easement to allow
for discussions with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation lies 0.5
miles south of the proposed crossing. Tribal officials have expressed repeated
concerns over the risk that a pipeline rupture or spill could pose to its water
supply and treaty rights.
"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information
with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more
work to do," Darcy said. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and
expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing."
Darcy said that the consideration of alternative routes would be best
accomplished through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input
and analysis.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is an approximately 1,172 mile pipeline that would
connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an
existing crude oil terminal near Pakota, Illinois. The pipeline is 30 inches in
diameter and is projected to transport approximately 470,000 barrels of oil per
day, with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels. The current proposed pipeline
route would cross Lake Oahe, an Army Corps of Engineers project on the Missouri
River."
www.army.mil/article/179095/army_will_not_grant_easement_for_dakota_access_pipeline_crossing
...Claudia Lewis
