Dakota Access Pipeline temporarily halted due to protests
WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Energy Transfer Partners Chief Executive Kelcy Warren said the company will not consider rerouting its Dakota Access oil pipeline despite concerns voiced by U.S. native groups, according to an Associated Press interview published on Friday.
A notice released by the White House on Thursday said the United States planned to gather more input from Native Americans as officials contemplate projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The Dakota Access Pipeline has been delayed since September, when federal regulators including the Army Corps of Engineers decided to re-review permitting under Lake Oahe, a federally-owned parcel of land where the pipeline needs to cross.
The stoppage came after protests from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation is adjacent to the federal land where the pipeline runs. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers elected to review their permitting again, and this past week deferred a decision, citing concerns about the tribe having been moved off its lands in the past.
The 1,172-mile (1,885-km) pipeline is expected to take oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale region to Patoka, Illinois, en route to the Gulf of Mexico.
Production in North Dakota has been declining, however, in part because of low oil prices and the crude there is more expensive to extract than other regions, and also because of the limited transport opportunities by pipeline.
Production in North Dakota fell to 972,000 barrels daily in September, lowest since February 2014, according to latest state data.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
