The Dakota Access Pipeline: Moving Forward with Safe, Clean Energy Transport

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a section of the larger Bakken pipeline, is an underground oil pipeline designed to transport crude oil across four states of the United States. The DAPL was completed in 2017 and has been effectively transporting crude oil ever since.

The $3.78 billion DAPL project extends for 1,172 miles (1,886 km), beginning in the Bakken oil fields of the Three Forks production facility in the Bakken formation in western North Dakota, and running through South Dakota and Iowa to an oil refinery located in Patoka, Illinois. Along with another Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline that extends from Patoka to Nederland, Texas, the DAPL completes the Bakken pipeline.

The DAPL is 30" in diameter and made of heavy-walled steel pipe.  The entire pipeline is buried underground, far deeper than other existing pipelines that run through the same areas. 

Why Was the DAPL Built?

The Dakota Access Pipeline was built because pipelines are the safest and most efficient method of transporting crude oil to satisfy America's oil consumption needs, the energy that Americans across the country use to fuel our vehicles, homes, and businesses.  

The United States consumes 800 million gallons of petroleum every single day, and crude oil must be transported from oil fields to refineries in order to be utilized as energy by end consumers. Pipelines such as the Dakota Access are proven to be the safest method of transport for crude oil in comparison to other methods of transportation such as rail or truck. The Dakota Pipeline was deemed the safest and most efficient means to transport crude oil from a geographically constrained location such as the Bakken formation to refineries in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions, as well as other downstream markets.

Completed between 2015 and 2017, the Dakota Access Pipeline has been operating safely and efficiently, with no incidence or indication of problems, since June of 2017, facilitating the transport of some 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The pipeline is monitored for safety by a computer network control system that operates 24/7, 365 days a year.

Who is Energy Transfer?

Energy Transfer Operating L.P., formerly known as Energy Transfer Partners, is one of the largest and most diversified midstream energy providers in the United States, and the developer behind the DAPL. The company is committed to the safe and efficient transportation of crude oil to supply the energy to fuel America's homes and businesses.  A manufacturer and operator of oil pipelines, and a force behind the latest innovation in pipeline construction technologies, Energy Transfer safely operates more than 86,000 miles of pipeline across 38 states.  

Throughout its process of construction and operation, Energy Transfer emphasizes its commitment to safety. The company employs a wide range of professionals, including engineers, environmental scientists, geologists, and wildlife biologists as advisory consultants who assist with the design of their pipelines and advise as to the safest and most environmentally sensitive routes, leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible. 

An American company with American values, Energy Transfer maintains a commitment to prioritize construction using American materials, American workers, and American ingenuity to provide energy to fuel American homes and businesses. 

How Does the DAPL Benefit the Local Community?

The DAPL has brought growth to the local economy since the project's inception. During construction of the pipeline, the project created some 8,000 to 12,000 jobs locally, providing work for skilled union workers, electricians, pipefitters, mechanics, heavy equipment operators, and other skilled laborers within the heavy construction industry. The project also contributed to growth in the local economy as the project crew patronized local businesses, including hotels, motels, restaurants, and services.

Additionally, since the project's inception, the DAPL has been paying millions in yearly property taxes to the four states that it crosses, providing valuable tax dollars that states can use to fund schools, hospitals, emergency services, and other critical service needs for the local community. 

Energy Transfer also maintains an active presence as a member of the communities that the pipeline crosses, and provides philanthropic support to local community projects in its four host states. To date, Energy Transfer and the DAPL have made philanthropic contributions totaling over $11.2 million to organizations across the four states that the pipeline traverses. These contributions are in addition to the $15 million that Energy Transfer gifted to the State of North Dakota.

During its daily operation at current production volumes, the DAPL transports about 40% of the total production of crude oil out of the Bakken oil fields, ensuring production royalties that are paid to both landowners and the state, as well as to local Native American communities who own oil and gas leases or production on nearby reservation property. The DAPL provides a critical link to jobs at the Bakken formation, supporting more than 80,000 jobs for North Dakota residents.

By easing the transport of about 40% of its crude oil output, the pipeline has also helped increase production in the Bakken formation, strengthening the local economy in the region. The DAPL has also contributed to better drilling economics in the region by reducing the cost of transportation for operators, while also providing a safer form of transportation when compared to truck or rail.

For the community at large, increased production of domestic crude oil means greater energy security, lower trade deficit, and boosted economic growth, thanks to reduced reliance on foreign oil producers and stable prices in the domestic market. Pipelines such as the DAPL enable domestic crude oil to safely reach American refineries and manufacturers, where it can be used to provide energy products that Americans use to fuel our everyday lives.

Is the DAPL Safe for the Environment?

Energy Transfer Partners is committed to safety as a top priority. The company has a long-standing commitment to the safety of its workers, as well as to its communities, to the environment, and to their own assets. These commitments make up the company's fundamental core values and inform their corporate responsibilities. The DAPL is designed and built to be one of the safest, most technologically advanced pipelines in the world, meeting or exceeding all safety and environmental regulations and factors with state-of-the-art construction techniques and innovation in engineering technology.

The development of the DAPL is the result of an extensive design and engineering process involving a lengthy series of reviews and approvals by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with state regulation authorities in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.  Throughout the process, Energy Transfer remained compliant in ensuring the safety of the project, even exceeding the requirements and demands imposed by these regulating bodies. In total, over 1,000 certificates, permits, and approvals were granted for the pipeline's construction, amounting to about one permit or approval for every mile of pipeline. 

The builders of the DAPL adhered to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and in some cases took measures beyond those required.  In one example of the company's willingness to stretch the extra mile as far as its commitment to safety, 100% of the mainline girth welds on the DAPL were non-destructively tested by means of x-ray or ultrasound, even though the requirement stipulates that only 10% of welds need to be tested.  Furthermore, the pipe was buried nearly two feet deeper than the minimum depth requirements in agricultural areas, and also exceeds the separation distance required between the pipe itself and all drain tile. 

In case of any malfunction, pipeline segments may be isolated as needed because all mainline valves qualify as Emergency Flow Restriction Devices (EFRD) and have motorized actuators that enable remote closing of each segment of the pipe if it should become necessary. These are additional examples of the ways in which Energy Transfer is committed to safety and has exceeded the testing requirements on the DAPL.

Energy Transfer also maintains a comprehensive program that enables real time monitoring of all of its assets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, which means that every pipeline, including the DAPL, is closely monitored at all times. The program consists of a computer system that facilitates supervisory control and acquisition of data, as well as aerial patrol, ground patrol, in-line inspection tools, and valves that can be remotely actuated in case of emergencies, among other key safety features. The goal of the program is to provide safe and dependable service to all of the communities that the pipeline's path crosses, as well as to American consumers and end users.

To further ensure the safety of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the project was once again closely inspected and reviewed a year after its completion. In August of 2018, after the pipeline had been in operation for over a year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed an additional twelve months of research and observation of the Dakota Access pipeline. The report released at the conclusion of their inspection reiterated that the observations made during this observation period confirmed its original findings that the pipeline poses no significant threats to the local environment.

How Does the DAPL Impact Land and Groundwater? 

Environmental protection and public safety are factors that are top priorities for Energy Transfer, who brings a long history of safely building and operating oil pipelines while minimizing and mitigating any negative impact on land properties and groundwater. The Dakota Access Pipeline is one of the most technologically advanced and safest pipelines ever built in the world, surpassing federal safety requirements to ensure adequate protection of the land and groundwater in its path.  

In keeping with the company's commitment to honoring the integrity of public lands, as well as the communities that the pipeline crosses, the DAPL extends almost entirely across private land, and landowners are justly compensated for the use of their property. In fact, about 99.98% of the pipeline is installed on privately owned land in North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. Landowners receive compensation for the use of their land by way of production royalties that are paid to them, as well as by access to community benefits and improvements funded by tax dollars paid by the DAPL to its four host states. The pipeline passes through public property owned by the Federal Government for a small stretch at Lake Oahe in North Dakota.  In order to limit intervention into unspoiled land, much of the land that the DAPL crosses is already in use for utilities easements such as other pipelines. 

The DAPL does not present any threat to local groundwater or drinking water supplies. Since June of 2017 when the pipeline began operations, the DAPL has never impacted groundwater in any of the four states that it passes through.  After its first full year of operation, the pipeline was once again scrutinized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer to ensure its safety, and the Army Corps once again found that the pipeline did not pose any significant threats to the local environment.

The entire Dakota Access Pipeline is buried underground, and crosses underneath Lake Oahe at a minimum depth of 95 feet beneath the riverbed bottom.  Specifically, the DAPL follows the same route as the Northern Border Pipeline, which was completed in 1982 and has been operating safely beneath Lake Oahe for over 35 years. To further ensure its safety, the DAPL is buried much deeper underground than the Northern Border Pipeline, further reducing its potential to contaminate the lake in case of any malfunction, and making the DAPL theoretically even safer than the Northern Border Pipeline. 

Incidentally, eight other pipelines have also been operating safely for years underneath Lake Oahe. No part of the DAPL ever comes into contact with water from Lake Oahe or the Missouri River, so there is no danger of any impact on local water supplies.

Next Step: Optimization of the DAPL

The DAPL has proven to be an invaluable asset that, in addition to improving economic conditions in its host states, has also contributed to the growth of the greater U.S. economy by facilitating the transport of domestic crude oil to American refineries who can make it accessible as energy to American consumers. Given the fact that Americans consume over 800 million barrels of crude oil daily, this is a pretty impressive contribution to the comfortable lifestyle that we as Americans have become accustomed to here in the U.S.

In 2018, Energy Transfer held an open season in an effort to obtain additional shipper commitments to increase capacity on the pipeline. The success of this open season underscored the continued need and demand to increase transport capacity out of the Bakken oil region. 

To meet this increased need, Energy Transfer announced its plans in June 2019 to optimize the existing DAPL to accommodate the transport of increased volumes of crude oil from the Bakken region.  In North Dakota specifically, the optimization project will cost between $30 and $40 million.

This optimization can be easily accomplished by increasing horsepower, in addition to minor modifications and upgrades required at pump stations along the existing path of the pipeline. No main-line construction or additional pipe will be needed to accommodate the increase in crude oil volume.  The increase in horsepower will be achieved by increasing the number of pumps at existing pump stations, as well as creating new pump stations along the route. Energy Transfer plans to purchase property outright to accommodate three new mid-point pump stations to be located in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Illinois. To protect the local environment and mitigate sound, pumping equipment at each new pump station will be enclosed within isolated structures. 

The upgrade and optimization of the already permitted DAPL will facilitate further development in the Bakken region, producing an increase in jobs as well as other economic benefits for local communities in North Dakota, as well as stabilization of costs for the industry and consumers.

In keeping with its compliance thus far, Energy Transfer is committed to working closely with local, state, and federal authorities to ensure that the project remains in full compliance with all applicable requirements.

Optimizing the pipeline's capacity will foster additional development in the Bakken region, which means more jobs and economic benefits for local communities. Each of the three states involved in the optimization project will benefit from the generation of sales tax revenues as a consequence of the installation of one new pump in each state. The three new pump stations will also generate millions in property taxes that these counties can use to fund public projects such as schools, hospitals, and local emergency services.

Overall, optimizing the DAPL will improve the flow of energy that fuels American homes and businesses, and contribute to a reduction in our trade deficit and our reliance on foreign oil sources, ultimately creating a win-win situation for all Americans.