William Petroski

bpetrosk@dmreg.com

BOONE, Ia. — As a crowd of Iowa protesters chanted, "This is what democracy looks like," 30 activists were arrested here Wednesday in an effort aimed at disrupting construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline.

The protest represented one of the largest demonstrations yet in Iowa against the four-state pipeline project. It also was the first time a formal effort was made to encourage a large number of arrests in a bid to obstruct construction work in Iowa. Organizers vowed afterward that additional demonstrations will be forthcoming, along with more arrests.

Their efforts appeared to have little effect Wednesday on stopping the pipeline construction project, which will diagonally cross 18 counties in Iowa. But the people taken into custody said they were acting as a last resort because efforts to prevent the pipeline have repeatedly failed in proceedings with state and federal government regulators, as well as the courts.

Overall, about 100 people from throughout Iowa gathered at a Dakota Access construction staging site near the grounds of the Farm Progress Show. They initially rallied in a parking area used by the farm show, expressing concerns about the environmental impacts of the pipeline and objections to the use of eminent domain to forcibly build the pipeline through highly productive farmland. Those arrested are expected to face misdemeanor charges of trespassing, authorities said.

Crystal Defatte, 31, of Bettendorf, a stay-at-home mother with three children, was among those arrested as she stood with other protesters in solidarity against the pipeline project.

"Every year you hear about oil spills. I don't want oil in the water that my children drink. This is a moral responsibility for me," Defatte said.

A representative of Precision Pipeline, a contractor for Dakota Access, told the protesters they were not welcome and asked them to leave after they tried to create human chains to block four entrances to the site. Authorities then repeatedly told the protesters they had the opportunity to leave without being taken into custody, but all of those arrested refused to move. The arrests all occurred at the construction staging site, said Maj. Randy Kunert of the Iowa State Patrol.

The 30-inch-diameter pipeline typically will carry about 450,000 barrels per day, with capacity of up to 570,000 barrels per day. The route will begin in the Bakken oil fields near Stanley, N.D., and end at Patoka, Ill., where the oil can be transported via another pipeline to the Gulf Coast or shipped to other markets. The project also has faced protest and controversy in North Dakota and South Dakota.

Dakota Access officials declined to comment on the arrests.

Business leaders and union construction workers have lined up in support of the pipeline project, citing positive economic benefits and a desire for U.S. energy security. Mike Ralston, president of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, and Bill Gerhard, president of the Iowa State Building & Construction Trades Council, have both strongly endorsed the pipeline.

Chad Carter, business agent and vice president for Operating Engineers, Local 234 in Des Moines, which is providing heavy equipment operators for the construction project, dismissed the protesters’ objections to the pipeline as hypocritical. He said the activists rely on petroleum-based fuels like everyone else and he joked that they didn’t arrive in Boone County in solar-powered vehicles for their demonstration. But pipeline workers have been told by law enforcement officials to abide by the law and let authorities handle any problems with protesters, he added

"Our people are there to do a job, and they will keep doing it until they are told to stop," Carter said.

The Boone County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday night that 30 people were taken into custody. About 40 law enforcement officers oversaw the demonstration, including Iowa State Patrol troopers and Boone County sheriff's deputies.They were joined by a small number of private security workers.

Ed Fallon, a former Des Moines legislator who heads Bold Iowa, part of a coalition which opposes the pipeline, said more protests are planned. He didn't risk arrest Wednesday, but said he intends to do so when the project crosses the land of an Iowa family that is being unwillingly forced to provide access to their farmland.

The protesters had held training earlier Wednesday in Pilot Mound to provide instruction about how to engage in civil disobedience and they were strongly urged not to engage in any violence. Fallon said the protesters didn't hold any grudges against Iowa law enforcement officers after they made arrests.

"They have been fair and decent to us. They are just doing the bidding of Gov. Branstad and Big Oil," Fallon said.

The pipeline project is expected to employ 2,000 to 4,000 construction workers in Iowa this summer and fall. However, license plates of pipeline workers' vehicles show many are from outside of Iowa — places like Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and other states. Dakota Access has promised to hire at least 50 percent of the construction workforce from Iowa union halls.

Dakota Access, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, had sought a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court in Des Moines earlier this week to prevent anti-pipeline activists from interfering with the pipeline project and to require them to remain at least 25 feet away from the route. A federal judge denied the request, but has scheduled a court hearing on Friday to consider the company's request for a preliminary injunction to restrict the protesters.

Construction had started in May on the pipeline project in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois. But work didn’t begin on the 346-mile route in Iowa until June because of regulatory hurdles.

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A Dakota Access lawyer told the Iowa Utilities Board last week the pipeline is expected to become operational in November, although Iowa lags behind other states in construction progress.

As of last week, 22 percent of the pipeline in Iowa had been welded and lowered into trenches, and three-fourths of the route had been cleared. In South Dakota, 93 percent of the pipeline had already been constructed. In North Dakota, the project was 63 percent finished, and in Illinois it was 62 percent completed, Dakota Access lawyers said.

The push for completion of the pipeline comes as many major fossil fuel projects across the United States have been shelved or significantly delayed because of new regulations, grassroots opposition and a decline in energy prices. More than a dozen projects, worth about $33 billion, have either been rejected by regulators or withdrawn since 2012, according to news reports.

The pipeline still faces a trial in December on a lawsuit from property owners who object to the use of eminent domain to secure access to farmland for the project, and a legal challenge from the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, which contends the Iowa Utilities Board erred in granting approval. A decision on the eminent issue could ultimately be decided by the Iowa Supreme Court.

A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted in late February showed that a plurality of 47 percent of adult Iowans supported construction of the pipeline, while 40 percent were against it and 14 percent were not sure. But public support for the pipeline had decreased by 10 percentage points since February 2015. The poll surveyed 804 Iowa adults.