Next up for Keystone XL, Dakota Access pipelines
Trump wants to bring them to life, but there are protests and legal battles still ahead
BISMARCK, N.D.— U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive actions on the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines are aimed at turning the much-protested pipelines into reality. Here’s a look at what may be next: What they are and where they stood before Tuesday The $3.80-billion Dakota Access pipeline to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois is nearly complete other than a stretch underneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir in southern North Dakota. Construction is stalled amid a court fight between developer Energy Transfer Partners and the Army Corps of Engineers over permission for the pipeline to cross under the lake amid objections from the Standing Rock Sioux, which gets its drinking water from the lake.
The $8-billion Keystone XL project was to bring oil from Canada’s oilsands to Nebraska, where it would join other lines already leading to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Former president Barack Obama halted it in late 2015, declaring it would undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal, a centrepiece of his environmental agenda. What the orders mean Trump’s move on Dakota Access didn’t immediately clear the way for construction to resume, but it did order the Corps to quickly consider whether to approve the Lake Oahe crossing. Tribal attorney Jan Hasselman said what happens next will depend on how the Corps interprets the language. He said the tribe will fight in court any reversal of the Corps’ decision to do a full environmental study of the crossing — a process that could take up to two years.
Not completing a study “would be a gross violation of the tribe’s treaty rights,” he said.
On Keystone XL, Trump invited TransCanada to reapply to the State Department for a presidential permit to build and operate the pipeline. Trump directed the State Department and other agencies to make a decision within 60 days of a final application and declared that a 2014 State Department environmental study satisfies required reviews. Environmental groups promised a legal challenge, arguing a new application requires a new review. Will protesters return? Opposition to Dakota Access resulted in hundreds and sometimes thousands of people camping on federal land along the pipeline route in North Dakota. The area has been the site of numerous, sometimes violent clashes between protesters and police, with nearly 625 arrests.
The camp has dwindled to fewer than 300 people after the Tribal Council recently told protesters to leave due to harsh winter weather and the need to get the area cleaned up before spring flooding. Trump’s action could reignite protests, but “to what degree, we don’t know,” said Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Jane Kleeb, founder and president of the Nebraska-based Bold Alliance, which fought Keystone XL, said the renewed fight will take place on several fronts.
“You’ll see teepees, you’ll see tractors,” Kleeb said. “You’ll see lots of people who are directly at risk, then all of our allies who support us . . . Now everybody’s awareness level is a hundred times more because of Dakota Access.” What do the developers say? Dakota Access developer Energy Transfer Partners didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s action. But a recent court filing indicates the company is ready to drill under Lake Oahe if it gets permission from the Corps.
Keystone XL developer TransCanada said it will take up Trump on his invitation to reapply for a permit.