Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) and Bold Iowa have challenged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issuance of a pipeline permit earlier this week to Texas-based Dakota Access. The permit will allow the Bakken oil pipeline to cross 64 waterways and officially clears the last hurdle facing Dakota Access in construction of the pipeline across North and South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. These grassroots organizations have been outspokenly resistant to the construction, and CCI Board President, Cherie Mortice, says this is just more “business as usual” as Iowa and federal regulators place the interests of corporations ahead of the common good of the people and their land. A Boone County resident with land in the pipeline’s proposed path, Dick Lamb, says this is not a question of if, but when the pipeline will leak and when it irreparably destroys the valuable farmland and waterways we depend on. The organizations are vowing to continue to build their resistance through rallies and events in efforts to mobilize more Iowans into action.
