American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016 - 102

with the Ground Water Protection Council
and the National Rural Water Association
to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders interested in solutions for handling
produced water in their states.
"I know Governor Hutchinson and I
believe states can come up with solutions
to big problems," Fallin said. "Turning
produced water into a beneficial supply
will come from the ideas exchanged in
forums such as the one this summer."
Safeguard Infrastructure
To those initiatives, Governor Hutchinson added protecting America's energy
transportation infrastructure. He recalled
serving as U.S. attorney for the Western
District of Arkansas in the early 1980s,
and prosecuting a white supremacist organization known as the CSA, which he
described as "domestic terrorists who

bombed churches, tried to create anarchy,
and committed murders."
One of the group's plots, he said, was
to blow up a natural gas pipeline in Fulton
County, Ar., that carried gas to Chicago.
Hutchinson said he told that story to
demonstrate that would-be terrorists "will
not look at the transportation sector only,
but also will look at the energy sector.
We have to be on guard to protect the security of our supply as well as the energy
grid itself."
Hutchinson said, "In the coming year,
I would like to see IOGCC engage in
aiding our federal government in enhancing (energy) security and supply, and
protecting the grid itself."
Once again looking to a previous
career for guidance, Hutchinson recalled
his appointment by President George W.
Bush as the first undersecretary for border

and transportation security within the
Department of Homeland Security, where
he was responsible for safeguarding 1.3
billion transactions a year at the nation's
300 ports and airports.
The key, he said, was not to overregulate by trying to tell chemical plants
where and how to build fences, but to
make them responsible for implementing
security plans that met Homeland Security's requirements.
"Our strategy was information gathering, utilizing technology, and partnership,"
Hutchinson said. "That is the strategy we
should have in the energy sector. If we
don't work to protect ourselves and our
investments . . . the federal government
will do it by regulation. So we want to do
more. We want to have more partnerships.
We want to exercise the states' role and
make sure we do it right."
r

Protested Pipeline Remains In Limbo
By Del Torkelson
CANNON BALL, N.D.-A Native
American protest camp digging in for the
North Dakota winter is drawing celebrities
and keep-it-in-the-ground activists to a
sliver of North Dakota that is slated to
connect the unlinked portions of the 1,172mile, $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline.
The 500,000 barrel-a-day project, which
is scheduled to begin service in January,
would send Bakken crude oil from Stanley,
N.D., to refineries and terminals in Patoka,
Il., but has drawn objections from the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Although the
disputed portion of DAPL's route avoids
tribal territory, published reports note
project opponents claim the pipeline will
disturb a sacred site and that allowing it
to cross Lake Oahe-the dammed section
of the Missouri River-greatly threatens
the tribe's water supply.
However, DAPL opponents are not
the only ones issuing dire warnings. Oil
and gas advocates are among those questioning the Obama administration's fidelity
to the rule of law after three federal agencies expressed plans to reconsider permits
they already issued under the National
Environmental Policy Act and other federal
laws. That happened on Sept. 9, hours
after U.S. District Court Judge James
Boasberg denied the tribe's requested injunction to halt construction on the portion
of the project near Lake Oahe (AOGR,
Oct. 2016, pg. 14).
That decision was upheld on Oct. 9 by
a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which published reports say also re-

jected the tribe's appeal for an injunction.
That ruling allows the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, to continue
constructing sections of the pipeline outside the disputed Lake Oahe area. However, construction under the lake may
not proceed until the project obtains an
easement from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. On the same day the D.C.
Circuit issued its decision, press accounts
note, the Corps indicated it would not
allow pipeline work on its land near Lake
Oahe until the Corps decided whether
any of its previous regulatory decisions
about the site needed to be revisited.
Those who have urged the Corps to
swiftly approve the easement include a
number of elected officials from three states
through which the pipeline crosses, such
as U.S. Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D.,
North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple,
South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard,
and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. Even
so, the U.S. Department of Justice on Oct.
25 indicated its review would continue.
"While the Army Corps of Engineers
continues to review issues raised by the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal
nations and their members, it will not authorize constructing DAPL on Corps land
bordering or under Lake Oahe," stated
DOJ spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle. "In the
interim, the departments of the Army, Interior and Justice have reiterated our request
that the pipeline company voluntarily pause
all construction activity within 20 miles
east or west of Lake Oahe."
The Independent Petroleum Association
of America and American Petroleum Institute joined 20 other associations in a

102 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

letter to the attorney general, and secretaries of the Army and Interior. Citing
the words of one American founder, John
Adams, that the United States is a "government of laws, and not of men," the
letter urges officials not to renege on
duly issued permits. "The previous decisions now being 'reconsidered' were properly considered and made through a fair
and thorough process on which the company and others are entitled to rely," the
letter states. "In our 'nation of laws,'
when an established legal process is complete, it is just that-complete."
An attorney for the pipeline told the
D.C. Circuit judges ETP planned to continue
building to the edge of federal land before
the Corps decided on an easement because
each month of delay would cost the company $80 million, media reports indicate.
Questions And Credibility
The 58-page ruling Boasberg issued
in early September observed that the
tribe's quest for a preliminary injunction
was based entirely on a claim that construction would violate the National Historical Preservation Act by ignoring requirements for federal agencies to consult
with Indian tribes before issuing permits
that affected sites of cultural or religious
significance.
"It bears noting that the tribe does not
press its environmental claims under NEPA
here," Boasberg writes. "Nor does it seek
a preliminary injunction to protect itself
from the potential environmental harms
that might arise from having the pipeline
on its doorstep. Instead, it asserts only
that pipeline construction activities-specif-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016

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