President of the North Dakota Petroleum Council Highlight Facts on Dakota Access

Ron Ness, President of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, penned an op-ed highlighting the key facts about North Dakota’s embattled energy project and the surrounding protests. According to Ness, the entire ‘debate’ has become one of “emotion and politics rather than reason, logic or science.”

Ness notes that he is consistently asked the same question about those unfamiliar with the project: “Why not make the pipeline extra thick?’ ‘Could the company monitor the pipeline regularly?’ ‘Maybe it should follow in the path of existing infrastructure off the reservation?” Ness, bluntly responds correctly, “It is’ or ‘it does.”

Additionally, Ness clears up any questions about the route. “It is a common misconception,” he writes, “that the pipeline was originally slated to run north of Bismarck, but was changed because the “people of Bismarck didn’t want it…The pipeline was never a serious option for the people of Bismarck to even consider because there were too many parameters that made it an unviable option, including the fact that it would have been 11 miles longer, crossed 33 additional waterways, affected 48 miles of greenfield.”

Finally, Ness offers more technical facts about the project that opponents refuse to accept. Specifically the pipeline will be “92 feet below the riverbed, which is 88 feet more than what the federal government requires. Gravity alone dictates that any leaks will not make it near the river, but despite that, ETP planned for additional safety features, including extra-thick steel and double walls to help prevent corrosion and mitigate any possible leaks. It will also have shut-off valves on both sides of the river so that if state-of-the-art monitoring technology senses even the slightest change in pressure, the section will be shut down until it can be inspected and repaired. The pipeline will be monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.”