Dakota Access Oil Pipeline

The Lee County Attorney's Office has dropped the criminal charges against five more people arrested last fall for protesting construction of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline.

The members of the Lee County Board want to know why the county is not being reimbursed for all of its expenses related to construction of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline. They say local tax dollars should not be spent in any way on the project.

Five women are refusing to accept a plea deal in connection with their arrest last fall for protesting the construction of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline through Lee County. Instead, they want to go to trial.

Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber is not supporting the decision to dismiss most of the remaining charges against people arrested last fall during multiple protests against the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline. Weber told Tri States Public Radio that it's difficult to explain to his deputies that their efforts equate to $60 in court costs.

The sixth annual Prairie Fire Bioneers Conference at Knox College explored the multiple meanings of sustainability.

The Lee County Attorney's Office is dismissing most of the remaining charges against the people arrested last fall during the weeks-long protest against the Dakota Access Crude Oil Pipeline.

Brian Stover raises chickens at his house in rural Marion County, Illinois, just across the road from the Patoka Tank Farm where the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline ends — about 75 miles east of St. Louis.

To paraphrase children's author Judith Viorst; It's been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year.  

Hundreds of people from across the country traveled to Lee County, Iowa during the past two months to try to stop the construction of a crude oil pipeline through four Midwest states. It now appears that effort is over and demonstrators are moving on to other locations.

Opponents of the nearly 1,200 mile crude oil pipeline being built through four Midwest states say they’ve been able to halt the boring under the Mississippi River in Lee County, Iowa by blocking access to a gravel road. But the company behind the roughly $4 billion project said that's not the case.

Some protesters have been arrested in North Dakota and Iowa while demonstrating against the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline.  Some people who say they’re journalists have also been arrested, though the Shop Talk panelists wonder whether some of them are truly journalists or advocates.

Opponents of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline have maintained an around-the-clock encampment for several weeks in a ditch near one of the construction sites in Lee County. That could be coming to an end following the issuance of an eviction notice.

The around-the-clock encampment near the site in Lee County where the Dakota Access pipeline will cross the Mississippi River swelled to more than 250 people last Saturday morning and afternoon. Opponents of the pipeline said even more people are needed if they are going to permanently halt construction.

Joseph Ryan of St. Louis, MO, caravanned with about ten people to demonstrate at the site in Lee County, IA, where the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline is supposed to cross the Mississippi River. He said he was prepared to do whatever it took to defend the planet and save its water.

Public opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline is growing in the tri states region, be it through marches or vigils.   Pipeline opponents hope that continues this weekend when their efforts move to the next step: civil disobedience.

Jessica Reznicek, 35, of Des Moines arrived in Lee County about two weeks ago. Since then, she has made herself known to the region as a supporter of the Mississippi River and an opponent of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline.

A little over 850 miles west of Macomb a war is being waged over something that is necessary to all life on earth.  Water. 

Dakota Access plans to begin construction in the next week or so on a new crude oil pipeline that would stretch from North Dakota to central Illinois. That's according to the firm hired by Lee County to keep tabs on the project on behalf of landowners.

The construction of a new crude oil pipeline from North Dakota to southern Illinois is expected to create as many as 12,000 construction jobs. A majority of those jobs are expected to go to union workers, which has local labor eager to get to work.

The proposed Dakota Access pipeline could bring an economic boom to communities along its 1,100+ mile path stretching from the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota to the small town of Pakota in southern Illinois.  One Iowa-based economist wants to make sure residents and local governments tame their expectations from the project.

The Dakota Access pipeline is not likely to impact homeowner’s insurance, said Kerry Klepfer, vice president of sales at KSB Insurance in Keokuk. “If you have a crude oil pipeline on your property, the insurance companies do not have a problem with that," Klepfer said. Gerald and Tammy Brewer, homeowners in Lee County, were told differently when they spoke with their insurance agent about how a pipeline running through their property would impact their homeowner's policy.

The Bakken crude oil that Dakota Access plans to pump through its pipeline is more prone to explosion, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

PHMSA was prompted to investigate the volatility of Bakken crude oil, which comes from the Bakken formation in North Dakota, after three separate railroad accidents in Alabama, North Dakota, and Quebec led to explosions and dozens of fatalities.

Dakota Access will have to run its proposed crude oil pipeline beneath the Mississippi River, which is a cause for concern for some in Keokuk.  That concern stems from the fact that the city relies on the Mississippi River for its most precious resource.