Trump has stock in pipeline
President-elect Donald Trump holds stock in the company building the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, and pipeline opponents warn that Trump’s investments could affect any decision he makes on the $3.8 billion project as president.
Concern about Trump’s possible conflicts comes amid protests that unfold daily along the proposed pipeline route. The dispute over the route has intensified in recent weeks, with total arrests since August rising to 528. A recent clash near the main protest camp in North Dakota left a police officer and several protesters injured.
Trump’s most recent federal disclosure forms, filed in May, show he owned between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. That’s down from between $500,000 and $1 million a year earlier.
Trump also owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Phillips 66, which has a one-quarter share of Dakota Access.
While Trump’s stake in the pipeline company is modest compared with his other assets, ethics experts say it’s among dozens of potential conflicts that could be resolved by placing his investments in a blind trust, a step Trump has resisted.
The Obama administration said this month it wants more study and tribal input before deciding whether to allow the partially built pipeline to cross under a Missouri River reservoir in North Dakota.
The pipeline would carry oil across four states to a shipping point in Illinois. The project has been held up while the Army Corps of Engineers consults with the Standing Rock Sioux, who believe the project could harm the tribe’s drinking water and Native American cultural sites.
The delay raises the likelihood that a final decision will be made by Trump, a pipeline supporter who has vowed to ‘‘unleash’’ unfettered production of oil and gas. He takes office in January.
‘‘Trump’s investments in the pipeline business threaten to undercut faith in this process – which was already frayed – by interjecting his own financial wellbeing into a much bigger decision,’’ said Sharon Buccino, director of the land and wildlife programme at the Natural Resources Defence Council, an environmental group. ‘‘This should be about the interests of the many, rather than giving the appearance of looking at the interests of a few – including Trump.’’
Trump holds ownership stakes in more than 500 companies worldwide.
He has said he plans to transfer control of his company to three of his adult children, but ethics experts have said conflicts could engulf the new administration if Trump does not liquidate his business holdings.