Dakota Access Pipeline

Dakota Access Pipeline
Dakota Access Pipeline route (Standing Rock Indian Reservation is shown in orange)
Location
Country	United States
General direction	Southeastward
From	Stanley, North Dakota
Passes through	States of North Dakota (Bismarck) South Dakota (Redfield, Sioux Falls) Iowa (Sioux Center, Storm Lake, Ames, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Fort Madison) Illinois (Jacksonville)
To	Patoka, Illinois (oil tank farm)
General information
Type	Crude oil
Partners	Energy Transfer Partners Sunoco Logistics Partners Phillips 66 Enbridge (agreed) Marathon Petroleum (agreed)
Operator	Dakota Access Pipeline, LLC (development phase) Sunoco Logistics Partners, L.P. (operational phase)
Construction started	2016
Expected	2017
Technical information
Length	1,134 mi (1,825 km)
Maximum discharge	0.45 million barrels per day (~2.2×10^7 t/a)
Diameter	30 in (762 mm)

The Dakota Access Pipeline or Bakken pipeline is a 1,172-mile-long (1,886 km) underground oil pipeline project in the United States. The route begins in the Bakken shale oil fields in northwest North Dakota and travels in a more or less straight line south-east, through South Dakota and Iowa, terminating at the oil tank farm near Patoka, Illinois. The pipeline is currently under construction by Dakota Access, LLC, a Houston, Texas based company and a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. The minor partners involved in the project are Phillips 66, Enbridge, and Marathon Petroleum. The project was planned for delivery by January 1, 2017. On November 26, 2016, the project was reported to be 87% completed.

The $3.78 billion project was announced to the public on June 25, 2014 and informational hearings for landowners took place between August 2014 and January 2015.

The pipeline has been controversial regarding its necessity, and potential impact on the environment. A number of Native Americans in Iowa and the Dakotas have opposed the pipeline, including the Meskwaki and several Sioux tribal nations. In August 2016, ReZpect Our Water, a group organized on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, brought a petition to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Washington, D.C. and the tribe sued for an injunction. A protest at the pipeline site in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation has drawn international attention.

The USACE approved the easement through Lake Oahe on February 7, 2017, allowing for the pipeline to be completed. On February 9, 2017, the Cheyenne River Sioux filed the first legal challenge to the easement, citing an 1851 treaty and interference with the religious practices of the tribe.