Dakota Access Pipeline parent company, Energy Transfer Partners, along with its subsidiary Sunoco Logistics, announced two court filings made last week in U.S. federal district court.
The filings demand judgement declaring that they have the legal right-of-way to finish the Dakota Access Pipeline, despite the recent decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to delay granting the necessary easements to complete the project until “additional discussion and analysis” can take place with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
The company argues that they have already been granted the relevant authorizations to complete the project beneath federal land that borders Lake Oahe in North Dakota.
“Dakota Access Pipeline has waited long enough to complete this pipeline. Dakota Access Pipeline has been granted every permit, approval, certificate, and right-of-way needed for the pipeline’s construction. It is time for the Courts to end this political interference and remove whatever legal cloud that may exist over the right-of-way beneath federal land at Lake Oahe,” said Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners.
Energy Transfer Partners claims that the multiple delays they have encountered during the last several months has cost them nearly $100 million and that “further delay in the consideration of this case would add millions of dollars more each month in costs which cannot be recovered.”
This estimate of loss is actually an estimation of expected future profits lost for every day the pipeline’s completion remains behind schedule. Meanwhile, an estimated $8 million has been spent to date on law enforcement in response to the protests against the pipeline, which is being paid for by the state of North Dakota, not by the pipeline company.
If the company succeeds in getting the ruling they want, they will be able to complete the project without intervention from any federal agency.
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