Farming is one of the most energy intensive operations in America, and in a petroleum-based society we are reliant on oil for everything from machinery, to lubricants, to the diesel fuel and gasoline that we use both in our farm equipment and in the vehicles that move our products to market.
The Dakota Access pipeline is one of the important projects that will expand access to energy resources benefiting Iowa’s economic growth, including the agricultural rural sector of our economy. America’s rural economy is dependent upon agriculture, and agriculture is dependent on affordable energy resources. At the IUB hearings in Boone, the Iowa State Grange highlighted the positive impact the pipeline could have on Iowa’s farmers. It’s not the first time either, another chapter of the Grange in Ohio recently released a study along with professors from Hillsdale College in Michigan highlighting pipeline benefits to this highly energy dependent industry.
Farmers are dependent on affordable energy resources, but have recently been negatively impacted by rail backlogs caused by oil trains from the Bakken. Dakota Access represents a solution, it is an important piece of infrastructure that will benefit farmers and the Iowa agricultural sector for years to come through both affordable energy, and ease the rail logjam that has created shipment delays for farmers across the region. Without pipelines like Dakota Access America will continue to be forced to rely on an aging rail infrastructure which is overburdened with oil trains. This creates further congestion and delays for cargoes, especially impacting time-sensitive deliveries of agricultural products. This results in lost profits for business and agriculture throughout our region.
Iowa’s economic future is still being written, but responsible, safe, and respectful development of new pipelines will help to ensure that the energy that we need gets safely from American oil fields to American gas tanks.