Construction activity appeared to progress September 8 on Energy Transfer Partners' 470,000 bpd Dakota Access crude pipeline, according to Genscape aerial images. The flight was a day before federal agencies issued a joint statement stopping work on a portion of the pipeline that will originate in North Dakota and terminate in Illinois.
On September 9, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of the Army, and the U.S. Department of the Interior halted construction beneath as well as within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe. The large reservoir connected to the Missouri River in North Dakota supplies drinking water to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which filed a civil suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Dakota Access LLC on July 27. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia scheduled oral arguments on the emergency injunction on October 5, said a court order on September 21.
In June, Iowa state officials withdrew another stop-work order that had been imposed at the Big Sioux River on the Iowa/South Dakota border because tribal representatives objected to disrupting American Indian land which includes burial grounds. The order was lifted after Dakota Access, LLC, agreed to use special boring equipment to locate the pipeline 85 feet beneath the river, according to the Des Moines Register.
The Dakota Access pipeline will transport crude from six terminals in the Bakken region of North Dakota (Stanley, Ramberg, Epping, Trenton, Watford City, and Johnson’s Corner) to the Patoka storage field in southern Illinois. The pipeline will be served by a total of three main pumping stations in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa, according to schematics released by Energy Transfer Partners. Once operational, the pipeline, which is expandable to 570,000 bpd, should lower volumes of crude transported by rail from the Bakken region. It is anticipated that Dakota Access will supply the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline (ETCOP), providing long-haul service from Patoka to Nederland, TX, and is expected to be operational by the end of 2016, according to the company.
Dakota Access, LLC stated pipeline construction is greater than 60 percent complete, which is consistent with Genscape aerial imagery. Much of the pipeline right-of-way (ROW) consists of intermittent stretches of completed and cleared ROW. Significant stretches of cleared ROW include strung piping material yet to be installed. Additionally, “trenching” activity beneath road intersections and waterways was visible along much of the ROW, including at the Mississippi River and the Big Sioux River on the South Dakota/Iowa border, where special boring equipment is required. Trenching precedes “stringing” pipeline along the ROW, which occurs in preparation of connecting the piping material.
Three main pumping stations are being constructed: at the trunk-line origin in Johnson’s Corner, ND, in eastern South Dakota, and in central Iowa north of Des Moines. At Johnson’s Corner, two storage tanks are near completion but neither has pipeline connectivity. Completed ROW leads to and from the Spink station in South Dakota, but pipeline adjacent to both sides of the facility were exposed at the time of the flight. Three pumps at the station are nearly complete. Construction crews and material were observed on site at the time of the flight. Construction of the Story facility north of Des Moines is also advancing as three pumps are nearly finished. Only minimal construction material and no construction crew were visible. Strung pipeline was observed within the cleared ROW leading to and from the station, which is adjacent to Interstate 35. Trenching remains to be completed beneath the interstate. Construction also remains at the aforementioned Bakken terminals, where storage tanks, pumps, and piping material remain to be installed.
Beginning nearly 22 miles northwest of the contested ROW at Lake Oahe, pipe stringing ends and only land clearing has been completed. Land clearing ceases roughly two miles from Lake Oahe. No construction crews were observed within this two mile segment northwest of the lake. Immediately southeast of the lake, cleared land resumed as clearing equipment and a small amount of piping material were spotted.
A large staging area for piping material was observed approximately 98 miles northwest of the storage field at Patoka, IL. A significant amount of piping remains at the site. Buried but exposed pipeline was spotted at a road intersection adjacent to Patoka. Another staging area for piping material was observed at Patoka, where exposed pipeline was visible within the storage area, indicating pipeline connection to delivery tanks is nearly complete.
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