June 26, 2017
To the Members of the Iowa Utilities Board:
In light of the recent federal court ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s fishing rights, hunting rights, or issues of environmental justice when it issued the permits needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), I urge you to immediately revoke the DAPL permit, which had initially been granted on the basis of the Army Corps’ go-ahead.
The lack of a legitimate permit adds to Iowans’ general mistrust of Dakota Access, especially since they very recently let their insurance on it lapse.
I own land in Jasper County approximately 200 yards from the pipeline. Although incredible damage has already been done to a great deal of farmland in Jasper County and across Iowa — we could still see the end to the threat that the pipeline poses to our soil and waters in the case of a leak, through the revocation of the permit.
Thank you,
Kathy Holdefer,
Des Moines, Iowa
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June 27, 2017
Re: HLP-2014-0001
Iowa Utilities Board Members:
You have a unique opportunity today to stand on the right side of history and revoke the permit for the Dakota Access pipeline across Iowa.
Recently, a federal judge released his opinion in a case brought forward by the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes challenging the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to grant a permit to Dakota Access. In that opinion, the judge stated that “the Court agrees that it [the Corps] did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial. To remedy those violations, the Corps will have to reconsider those sections of its environmental analysis upon remand by the Court.”
Shortly after, the Iowa Sierra Club and Science & Environmental Health Network filed a motion with the Iowa Utilities board to void the Iowa permit to Dakota Access because the pipeline has not met all the conditions for the permit.
The Iowa Utilities Board granted Dakota Access a permit to cross the state of Iowa and to seize private land through eminent domain, but this permit was granted on the condition that Dakota Access obtain the Army Corps of Engineers’ federal permit. Without the federal permit there is no basis for the finding of “public convenience and necessity”. Accordingly, the IUB must revoke the Iowa permit and shut down the pipeline.
This gives you, as IUB board chair and members, the opportunity to stand on the right side of history. Overwhelmingly, Iowans have opposed this pipeline. Some have taken arrest trying to protect their farms and homes from destruction. Many more have rallied, marched, signed petitions, submitted comments, written letters-to-the editor, attended legislative and county supervisor meetings, and appealed to you in public hearings over the past three years. The financial analyses put forward in the rationalization of the pipeline were paid for by Dakota Access themselves. Dave Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University, analyzed these documents and found them to be over inflated. His analysis is available online. You have the opportunity to re-examine the inflated claims brought forward by Dakota Access and have evidence of the abuse they have caused to families and our land in Iowa. This information can be used now to revoke the permit.
Already the pipeline has leaked multiple times in its testing. All pipelines eventually leak; but these can be avoided by shutting the pipeline down now. Iowa is a leader in wind energy and solar is a growing sector of our energy economy. There is no reason to continue to allow Dakota Access to put our farms, water, community health, and financial stability of the state at risk.
Sincerely,
Angie Carter
Ames,Iowa