The DesMoines Register is reporting that plans for the Bakken oil pipeline in Iowa cleared a final regulatory hurdle on Tuesday when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded that proposed crossings of Iowa waterways will comply with federal environmental laws.

Officials with the Corps of Engineers in Rock Island, Ill., notified Dakota Access LLC,, which is building the pipeline, of their decision in a verification letter. Dakota Access is a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners. Corps spokesman Allen Marshall told The Des Moines Register there will be follow-up compliance inspections to ensure the terms and conditions of the permits are being met. These will include wetland mitigation sites that must be inspected, he added.

The Iowa Utilities Board had previously authorized Dakota Access to start construction on the pipeline where necessary permissions had been granted, and construction has already begun in some counties. However, the Corps of Engineers' verification is a major step forward for the pipeline project, which will diagonally cross 18 Iowa counties, because it will permit long stretches of construction to be completed through areas that include water crossings.

Several lawsuits are still pending, though, which challenge the Iowa Utilities Board's approval of the pipeline and the use of eminent domain to condemn private Iowa land for the project.

The $3.8 billion pipeline will transport up to 570,000 barrels of oil daily from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields to Patoka, Ill. Dakota Access spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger said Tuesday the Corps of Engineers has now granted a permit for the pipeline in all four states along the pipeline route: Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Source: The DesMoines Register