Firm: Nearly 60 percent of pipeline land in Iowa secured

Clarification: An earlier version of this story misstated the status of land easements.

A company planning to construct a crude oil pipeline across 18 Iowa counties says it has purchased easements for nearly 60 percent of the land along the route.

Activists challenge that number, saying online records show far fewer easement purchases have been recorded.

The company has asked the Iowa Utilities Board for permission to construct a 30-inch diameter underground pipeline to transport up to 570,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil daily from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution center at Patoka, Ill. A hearing on the application is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 12 through Dec. 2.

Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for Dakota Access LLC, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, stressed the number of easements obtained "changes daily as agreements are signed."

But David Goodner, a contributor to online environmental website DeSmogBlog, said his analysis of online Iowa land records shows that Dakota Access has recorded 362 pipeline easements, which represents about 28 percent of the land parcels along the route.

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John Murray, a lawyer in Storm Lake whose mother owns a farm in Buena Vista County, said his inspection of online records shows easements have been obtained on only 19 percent of the land along a seven-county stretch from Lyon County to Calhoun. However, he acknowledged the figure is probably higher, saying there are lags between the signing and recording of easements.

Granado said the company's count on voluntary easements is based on the actual easement agreements signed, not necessarily those that have been filed. The agreements are sent to county offices about once or twice a month, and the company doesn't control the time it takes for the county recorder's office to review the documents and get them filed, she adds.

The process

Dakota Access has budgeted about $60 million in compensation to Iowa property owners for right of way and easement payments, which average about $46,000 per parcel of land. But some farmers own multiple land parcels, and their payments reportedly total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The company formally filed its state application for the project in January, after a series of public informational meetings were held last fall.

In cases where easements are not obtained voluntarily, the company has asked state regulators for the right to use eminent domain to take private property through condemnation proceedings in which local boards would determine fair-market payments. However, eminent domain is a last-resort option, Granado said.

The Iowa Utilities Board has not set a minimum percentage of voluntary easements that must be secured before eminent domain can be granted for the project, says Don Tormey, a board spokesman.

But if eminent domain is authorized, it's important to recognize the process is complex and requires a lot of work, said Murray, who is also a manager for the Northwest Iowa Landowners Association, which has been organized to fully inform landowners about the pipeline project.

For example, if 25 percent of the land for the pipeline must be acquired through eminent domain — a distance of about 85 miles probably involving hundreds of parcels — it will be "extremely difficult" for the regulatory board's staff to process all the condemnations, Murray said.

But Energy Transfer remains optimistic the crude oil pipeline will be built, and Granado said the company is already stockpiling metal pipe for the project near Newton. It will soon begin offloading and storing pipe in Keokuk. She said the company is sticking with its schedule that calls for the pipeline project to be operational by late 2016. Regulatory requests are also pending in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois.

Response from landowners

Vance Bauer, who resides near Gowrie in Webster County, said he has signed an easement agreement to allow the pipeline to cross two farms he owns. He declined to say how much he was paid, but he believes he was fairly compensated for damage that will occur when the underground pipeline is installed and for crop losses over the next several years.

"We already have a natural gas pipeline on our farm that was put in back in the 1950s, and we have never had a problem with it," Bauer said. "That is a different company, but whenever they have come in and done checks and worked on it, they have always treated us fairly."

Brian Betten, who farms near Jolley in northwest Iowa, says he has signed a voluntary easement with the pipeline company and he has already received his cash, which he expects to keep even if the pipeline isn't built. He declines to say how much he received, but he said: "The money was really good and farming is not so good right now."

"I wish all my farms were on that pipeline," Betten added. " ... The oil is going to get hauled regardless, and I think a pipeline is way safer than rail."

Opposition to the plan

However, Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, a lawyer for the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, said it is not inevitable that the pipeline will be constructed. His organization believes the project is environmentally unsound, and he plans to present the state board with strong evidence he hopes will persuade regulators to reject the application.

Chet Hollingshead, the chairman of the Boone County Board of Supervisors, said he doesn't oppose the pipeline, but he believes it needs to be carefully planned. One of his big concerns is the impact an oil leak could have on Iowa's water supply.

"It is one thing if there is a surface leak, but what if it gets into the Jordan Aquifer?" he asked. "Let's just forget about the human population for one second: Think about all the cattle, pigs, chickens that drink that water every day.

"If you think bird flu is bad for food prices, what do you think will happen if you have a bunch of livestock drinking crude oil?"