Top 5 Takeaways from CCI’s meeting with Army Corps of Engineers

This week, a dozen pipeline fighters and landowners with Iowa CCI met with the Regulatory staff at Rock Island Army Corps of Engineers. Here are our key takeaways:

Dakota Access wants to bury the pipeline 75 feet under the Mississippi River. Not only is this outrageous, but Army Corps has no regulations on depth for Iowa’s waterways. They are simply going with what Dakota Access wants to do.

Army Corps will only perform on-the-ground review for 3 of the 65 construction permits they are considering for crossings of Iowa's rivers, streams, and wetlands.

The Rock Island District of Army Corps of Engineers is not the only District involved. The St. Louis and Omaha Districts are also involved, but there is no communication between the three districts on the project.

Army Corps has no timeline for completing the permitting, in spite of IUB’s determination to finish this debate before the end of the year. Not only do they not have a timeline, they claim they have no authority to pursue more stringent permits, and are instead simply verifying the information they receive from Dakota Access.

We can send an appeal to EPA and demand that EPA veto Army Corp’s permits. Iowa CCI will continue to pursue our demands of Army Corps.

Our demands:

• Army Corps must pursue their “Individual” Permitting process for the Bakken Pipeline, and allow for public comment on the permit.

• The Agency must pursue an independent Environmental Impact Survey for the entire pipeline proposal.

• The only way to adequately protect Iowans from the Bakken Pipeline is for Army Corps to deny Dakota Access’ permits.

Ultimately, we learned that Army Corps isn’t equipped to do its job: protect Iowa’s waterways from this dangerous proposal.