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Energy Transfer wants to nearly double DAPL capacity

by Erika Green

Texas-based Energy Transfer, an owner and operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline, wants to increase the pipeline’s capacity by more than 96%, to 1.1 million barrels per day of crude, from the Bakken in North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois.

To increase flow, the company wants to build a series of new pumping stations along the 1,172-mile route, and upgrade its facilities where Dakota Access interconnects with other Midwestern lines, Kallanish Energy reports.

But ET’s efforts have been met by objections and skepticism.

In Illinois, the oil companies filed a petition for the upgrades with the Illinois Commerce Commission, seeking authorization to build a new pump station in Hancock County and replace and add pumps at the oil tank complex in Patoka, about 80 miles east of St. Louis.

The petition also requests authorization to build a new pump station on another pipeline at the southern edge of Illinois, near the town of Joppa on the Ohio River.

But the June filing drew objections from two environmental groups and a landowner with property near the pipeline. Save Our Illinois Land and the Sierra Club filed objections to block the expansion, arguing that pumping more oil through the pipeline will increase the risk of spills and leaks along the rural route.

“The optimization of the pipeline will help allow for further development in the Bakken, economic growth in North Dakota, and the stabilization of costs for the industry and consumers,” said ET spokesperson Lisa Coleman.

She added the maximum operation pressure (MOP) for which the pipeline was designed, tested and permitted won’t change.

In Iowa, public utility commissioners required the pipeline company to file detailed answers to questions about how the upgrades will affect operations before they vote on the project.

In North Dakota, where indigenous people and environmentalists clashed with authorities during 2016 protests at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation over pipeline construction, a mid-November public meeting drew dozens to speak about their position and lasted 15 hours.

The increased flow, the company says, will not increase the risk of spills or leaks or increase the danger to workers or those who live near the pipeline.

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