O'Brien County Okays Pipeline Inspection Agreement

April 18, 2016

By Loren G. Flaugh

Leading off the Tues., April 12, 2016 O'Brien County Board of Supervisors meeting agenda was the discussion and approval of a contract between O'Brien County and ISG Field Services LLC. ISG will inspect construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) when that 30-inch diameter, 450,000 barrel per day pipeline project kicks off.

An ISG contract approval matter will be on the agenda at the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors meeting at their Tuesday, April 19 meeting. With 18.16 miles of the $3.8 billion pipeline to pass through Cherokee County, that's about 6.5% of the 279.21 miles of the project where ISG will provide inspection services.

The Bakken pipeline is set to cross 18 counties diagonally from Lyon County to Lee County in Iowa's southeast. ISG reports they have this contractual agreement proposed for 14 of the 18 counties along the 343-mile route across Iowa.

ISG is to invoice each county based on a prorated percentage of the overall length of the project. O'Brien County, for example, has 10.86 miles passing through the southwest corner of the county, or 3.89% of ISG's 279.21 pipeline miles.

ISG will provide O'Brien County with an invoice totaling 3.89% of the total inspection costs ISG incurs during each monthly billing cycle. DAPL will then reimburse each county along the route for these pipeline construction inspection costs. In effect, each County will act as a pass through agent for funds between ISG and DAPL.

As far as what exactly these inspection services entail, ISG is to inspect pipeline contractor's work activities like: clearing and grading; boring roads; topsoil removal and stockpiling; tile marking and permanent repair; clean-up and land restoration.

ISG is also to review and inspect the pipeline contractor's work for compliance with the private land agreements made between land owners and DAPL, as well as the approved Agricultural Impact Mitigation Plan, and then report any and all discrepancies.

When ISG spots a violation, ISG is to give oral notice to the contractor and order corrective action taken. If a violation persists, ISG will give written notice to the contractor and DAPL and order corrective action. If the violation persists, ISG will notify the County to proceed with corrective action through the Iowa Utilities Board.

And finally, if at any time a clear and severe violation has occurred, ISG has the authority, under Iowa Code, to halt all construction operations until that violation has been corrected.

County auditor Barb Rohwer explained briefly how the funding part of the contract will work. "So, yes, the money does roll through the county. ISG anticipates our share, with 3.89% of the total mileage, will be about $243,040."

"But, the pipeline company will pay for that," supervisor Tom Farnsworth noted.

"Yes. ISG will send us the invoice. When we get the money from the pipeline company, then we will pay ISG. We'll have to do a budget amendment sometime for the current year," Rohwer advised.

"I sent the contract to the county attorney. He had a couple of areas of concern with language used. ISG agreed to change that language in the contract."

As they were talking, county attorney Micah Schreurs walked in and joined the discussion. Schruers said his primary concern was that the County would be part of the reporting procedure, as far as actual violations go.

"ISG, we learned, has a system set up whereby they would make certain people aware of violations. We want to make sure that you are in that too, because you would have independent authority to seek corrective action with the Iowa Utilities Board when necessary. That was my primary concern. Even though this is a pass through contract, you want to protect the interests of O'Brien County," Schreurs explained.

Schreurs then reported what transpired at the IUB's meeting last Friday when the written order for the construction permit to Dakota Access was issued.

Schreurs said what happened last Friday is that, "The IUB put out their written order and in that order they published the final land restoration plan. That plan is going to set the standards and expectations for Dakota Access and, in turn, what the inspectors are going to be looking for. There has been a lot of work put into that land restoration plan. That's the standards Dakota Access will be held to in O'Brien County.

The IUB has a manual explaining what they expect out of the construction inspectors. But, you do have that independent authority to request corrective action."

Questions arose about the Monday, April 11 effective date of the contract with ISG. Rohwer said she really didn't want to change that date.

Schreurs said, "I believe that the IUB written order that came down late last week told Dakota Access that they had to have their construction inspectors in place in a very short period of time."

Schreurs didn't recall the exact date, "But it was a very short turnaround."

What Schreurs pointed to was spelled out in the IUB's Friday, April 8 written ordering clauses where the IUB said: Within seven days of the date of this order, Dakota Access shall file for the record: a final revised Agricultural Impact Mitigation Plan incorporating the ministerial changes described in this order; a final description of the notice timeline incorporating the ministerial change described in this order; a final set of condemnation easement descriptions incorporating the ministerial change described in this order; a revised statement of easement rights for parcel H-LE-28 with all vegetation trimming rights removed; and lastly, a list of the county inspector, or inspectors, for each county, including contact information like name, address, email address, and telephone numbers.

Due to the concerns about the effective date with the ISG contract, the Board held off taking the vote until later in the meeting. Once that issue was cleared up, the Board approved the ISG construction inspection contract.