South Dakota tribal leaders are requesting a public hearing in North Dakota about a proposed increase in crude oil carried by the Dakota Access Pipeline (Dapl), Kallanish Energy reports.
Energy Transfer Partners plans to expand the pipeline’s capacity from more than 500,000 barrels per day, to as much as 1.1 million barrels per day (Mmbpd) to meet growing demand without constructing additional pipelines or rail shipments.
The 1,172-mile line flows crude from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a crude terminal in Patoka, Illinois.
The tribal leaders say they haven’t been adequately informed about the plans and are asking the North Dakota Public Service Commission to hold a public hearing. The Commission is receiving public feedback until Aug. 9, before it announces whether it’ll hold a hearing.
“The water comes down through here, our territory, so we have to make sure that the water is clean and stays clean,” Rosebud tribal president Rodney Bordeaux said, in a statement, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspaper reported.
Cheyenne River tribal chairman Harold Frazier said he has serious safety concerns about an increase in the pipeline’s oil flow. “We don’t know if the pipeline is capable of handling (it), and I haven’t seen any documents to justify that,” Frazier said, in a statement.
The construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline sparked massive protests at Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota in 2016. The pipeline was completed and began flowing oil in 2017.
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