Late Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved construction of the final portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). It will cross under the Missouri River north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The approval came two weeks after President Donald J. Trump sent the Army Corps an order to expedite the process.
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“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had approved the final pipeline construction phase as the project was more than 95% complete. Then, last year, the Corps was pulled into the world of politics. This return to order is a sign to businesses working on large projects that their investment of time and resources will not be at risk because of political games – a welcome green light. “The completion of this important project also means that the clean-up of the protest sites can move forward. The protests in North Dakota, emboldened by the courts and the Obama administration, have cost the state of North Dakota $30 million so far. The clean-up of the protest sites is a true environmental priority.
“This action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a win for the rule of law, a win for businesses that follow the rules, a win for the state of North Dakota, a win for consumers, and a win for mineral owners and workers.”
Bette Grande
Research Fellow, Energy Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
Ms. Grande represented the 41st District in the North Dakota Legislature from 1996 to 2014.
“This is just a course correction for an agency finally out from under the heavy thumb of the Obama administration, which routinely made highly politicized regulatory decisions. The fact remains that DAPL sits on private property. It touches no Standing Rock land, and a federal court ruled the tribe had no legal standing to block it. Further, DAPL sits much further underground than an existing pipeline that has been in operation for the past 35 years without having any horrible impact on any nearby Indian land, and it tracks the same path of that pipeline under Lake Oahe.
“Most importantly, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers originally gave construction the green light back in July 2016 after releasing an environmental assessment of the project with a finding of no significant environmental impact. There was no reason, whether it be economic, environmental, or cultural, for the easement to have been denied in the first place.”
Tim Benson
Policy Analyst
The Heartland Institute
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312/377-4000
“Thank God we are finally getting on a sensible and intelligent path towards energy independence.”
Walter Cunningham
Apollo 7 Astronaut and Author
Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute
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312/377-4000
“The Army Corp of Engineers made the decision it was poised to make late last summer, before the Obama administration instructed the department of the Army to delay the issuance of the permit. This is a common-sense approval that is long overdue. This pipeline will make it easier for domestic oil producers to compete in a global marketplace.”
Isaac Orr
Research Fellow, Energy and Environment Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“President Obama never should have intervened to stall this pipeline and it shouldn’t even have been controversial. ‘Keep it in the Ground’ anti-fossil fuel activists should not be in control of U.S. energy policy – and with Donald Trump as president, they won’t be. “This decision is a win for the economy and a win for the environment. Pipelines are the safest way to transport the oil and gas the nation needs to prosper, and the building and maintaining of pipelines provide the kind of high-paying infrastructure jobs President Trump has been touting as necessary to ‘make America great again.’ Though court challenges will undoubtedly follow, protestors have lost in court before, and they will again because there is no sound environmental reason for denying the Dakota Access Pipeline.”
H. Sterling Burnett
Research Fellow, Environment & Energy Policy
The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, Environment & Climate News
[email protected]
214/909-2368
“The Trump Administration should be congratulated for its fast approval of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline that may be carrying 570,000 barrels of oil per day by June 1. This supports increased domestic output of North Dakota shale oil that helps lead the country to energy independence. Besides the safety benefits of transporting oil via pipeline instead of rail, consumers will benefit from lower transportation costs because it costs $5 a barrel to ship via pipeline compared to as much as $15 a barrel for rail. “Consumers use oil for transportation, heating, plastics, and many other uses. Their costs depend upon refinery costs. Refineries pay the cost of crude oil plus transportation. The Dakota Access Pipeline could lead to $2 billion annual savings for consumers.”
James H. Rust
Professor of Nuclear Engineering (Ret.), Georgia Tech
Policy Advisor
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
404/875-3874
“The construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline will help ensure reduced instances and risk of crude oil accidents in using rail transportation. Given this environmental benefit, one would think that the green lobby would support the pipeline’s construction. Their opposition to both the Keystone XL and DAPL projects appears quite disingenuous.”
Paul Crovo
Energy Analyst, Policy Advisor
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
215/499-9117
Bette Grande is a State Government Relations Manager at The Heartland Institute. Prior to coming to Heartland, she served as a North Dakota state representative from 1996-2014, representing the 41st district.
Tim Benson joined The Heartland Institute in September 2015 as a policy analyst in the Government Relations Department.
Walter Cunningham was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 7, the first manned flight test of the Apollo Program to land a man on the Moon. Cunningham is a member of the Astronaut Hall of Fame and a Policy Advisor to The Heartland Institute.
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy and the managing editor of Environment & Climate News.
Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (ret.), Climate Change and Energy
Paul Crovo currently works as an energy analyst for a major financial institution in Philadelphia, and is a Policy Advisor to The Heartland Institute.
