Supervisors adopt pipeline parameters

Energy Transfer Partners would be on the hook to repair any damage they inflict on county drainage facilities in perpetuity, according to state law and affirmed in a resolution passed June 30 by the Calhoun County Board of Supervisors.
“There should be no ending date on repairs,” said David Wollenzien, Calhoun County’s drainage attorney. “(There is) no statute of limitations on repairs caused by damage resulting from the construction of this pipeline. … Of course, 10 years from now, it could be a question of proof whether construction caused the damage.”
Energy Transfer Partners is proposing to cross Iowa, including through Calhoun County, with the Dakota Access Pipeline, to move crude oil from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a port in Illinois. The company filed its petition to build the pipeline with the Iowa Utilities Board, which expects to make a decision around the end of this year.
The requirement that the pipeline company repair damage to drainage facilities or other county property without a statute of limitations is different from the requirements for the state Department of Transportation, Wollenzien said, which capped damage repair to five years after completing the expanded U.S. 20 through Calhoun County. 
Read more in the July 8 edition.