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Farm Bureau leader concerned about precedent of emptying Dakota Access Pipeline

A federal judge has ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline to be emptied while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts analysis of how a leak could affect Lake Oahe on the Missouri River in South Dakota. In an interview with Brownfield Ag News, South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal said the South Dakota Farm Bureau had policy supporting the pipeline when it was proposed, and now is concerned because of the possible precedent set by halting operation.

“We felt like [the company that operates the pipeline] had followed the rules and fulfilled all of the requirements of the government to get that built,” said Scott. “Now a judge has decided that somehow they didn’t.”

The pipeline, that carries oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale basin to Illinois, has been opposed by Indian tribes and environmental groups. The South Dakota Farm Bureau has other reasons to support its continued operation, said VanderWal.

“There will be some indirect effects as far as maybe some supply issues as far as transporting that oil to the refineries,” said VanderWal, “and certainly the effects on the oil producers in North Dakota.”

The pipeline opened in 2017 and traces a diagonal line across South Dakota, Iowa and part of Illinois, carrying about a half-million barrels of crude oil a day.