DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A company seeking to build an oil pipeline across Iowa says it has purchased easements from nearly 60 percent of landowners, but some don’t believe the claim.
The Des Moines Register reports that activists say online records show far fewer easement purchases.
A spokeswoman for Dakota Access LLC, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, stresses that the number of easements changes daily as agreements are signed. She says the company’s count is based on the number of signed agreements, not on those that have been filed.
The company is seeking permission from the state to construct the pipeline, which would transport oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution center in Illinois. Regulatory requests also are pending in the other states.
