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Bakken Oil Spill Feared

Joyce Russell/IPR
Landowners at Bakken pipeline informational meeting in Fort Madison

A lawmaker whose land will be traversed by a proposed oil pipeline wants protection for landowners.

A bill has advanced in the Iowa House to mandate a liability fund in the event of an oil spill for the Bakken pipeline which will carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois crisscrossing Iowa from northwest to southeast.  Energy Transfer Partners has applied for permits in four states.

 Storm Lake Republican Gary Worthen says he and his neighbors are concerned. “It cuts through Buena Vista County corner to corner,” Worthen says.   “It  goes through my whole farm.”

Energy Transfer Partners spokesman Jeff Boeyink says the bill doesn’t spell out how much liability coverage would be required.“From our perspective the bill creates financial uncertainty for the project,” Boeyink says.

The company says a nearly four billion dollar federal fund created after the Exxon Valdez oil spill already covers damages for major oil leaks.    Worthen questions whether that would apply to private landowners. He says  landowners in Buena Vista County have been meeting on a regular basis.  

“There've been six to eight lawyers at each one of those meetings,” Worthen says. Worthen says lawyers believe it will be hard for private individuals to get compensation for damage to land and water.    

Energy Transfer Partners has held public hearings along the nearly 350 mile route that  would run from Lyon County in the northwest corner of the state to Lee County in the southeast.  The company has applied for a permit with the Iowa Utilities Board.