Regulators: Dakota Access company complied with settlement

The developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline has planted tens of thou- sands of trees and taken other steps to settle allegations that it violated North Dakota rules during construction, state regulators have concluded. The September 2017 agreement between Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and North Dakota’s Public Service Commission settled allegations that ETP removed too many trees and that it improperly handled a pipeline route change after discovering Native American artifacts. The artifacts were not disturbed. The company denied intentionally doing anything wrong but could have faced fines of up to $200,000. Instead, it was required to plant a certain number of new trees and develop an industry handbook and conduct training on properly handling pipeline route adjustments.