Wiederstein: Corps of Engineers green lights pipeline

A recent opinion piece by the MAIN Coalition’s chairman, Ed Wiederstein, in South Dakota’s Argus Leader, highlighted the great news of the Corps of Engineers decision to release the permits for the Dakota Access project.

As Wiederstein states,

All systems are (finally) go.

That is the significance of the recent decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release the final permits needed for full construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline to begin.

For the first time in this over two year process, all segments of the pipeline are now free to begin construction, and that is very good news for communities stretching from the Bakken in North Dakota, across the fields of Eastern South Dakota, throughout Iowa, and into Illinois.

This development is certainly good news for the thousands of men and women who are currently constructing the project, but also for our entire region and country as we find ways to become more energy independent.

For over two years, this project has been closely debated and analyzed. All four states, and now the federal government have agreed – the benefits will be great and the impacts minimal. The recent news of the opposition’s last ditch efforts against the project are only detracting from what so many already know – this project will be good for all of us.

We need to support Dakota Access and say “YES” to our future and it starts with this important piece of national energy infrastructure.