Activists at Oceti Sakowin near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation brace for sub-zero temperatures expected overnight on December 6, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Enbridge Inc. has delayed its proposed $1.5-billion (U.S.) acquisition of a major stake in the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, as it encounters new indigenous opposition to its own pipeline operations in the northern United States and Canada.Scott Olson/Getty Images
Enbridge Inc. has delayed its proposed $1.5-billion (U.S.) acquisition of a major stake in the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, as it encounters new indigenous opposition to its own pipeline operations in the northern United States and Canada.
Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied an easement to allow the current pipeline owner to cross the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation where indigenous activists and their supporters have encamped in high-profile opposition to the project.
Since then, Enbridge has extended the deadline for completing its transaction with Energy Transfer Partners LP to March 31, an Enbridge spokeswoman confirmed. The Calgary-based company won't comment on reasons for the delay. But all parties involved in the Dakota access project are watching to see whether it can be quickly completed after Donald Trump becomes U.S. president in two weeks.
"There is a termination option in the agreement if certain conditions aren't met and this termination option has been extended to March 31, 2017," after which either party could cancel the deal, Enbridge's Suzanne Wilton said in an e-mail. One of those conditions is the receipt of the easement needed to complete the 1,885-kilometre pipeline, which is roughly 85-per-cent finished.
As it delays investment in the Dakota Access project, Enbridge is facing opposition from indigenous communities to its own crude-export pipeline projects. In Minnesota, tribal leaders threaten mass protests to block the company's planned expansion of its Line 3 mainline, while in Manitoba, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has appealed the Liberal government's approval of the Line 3 rebuild.
In Wisconsin, a Chippewa band passed a resolution this week to refuse to renew Enbridge's permits for its 65-year-old Line 5 to cross rivers in the Bad River Band's territory. The band wants Enbridge to decommission the aging line – which carries 544,000 barrels a day of Western Canadian crude through Wisconsin and Michigan to Ontario – and could pursue litigation if the company refuses to comply, tribal councillor Dylan Jennings said in an interview Friday.
Enbridge was taken off guard by the band's determination to see the pipeline shut down.
"We have been negotiating with the Bad River Band for three and a half years and are surprised to learn of the community's decision not to renew individual easements," Ms. Wilton said. "At Enbridge, we believe the most productive way to address the energy issues that matter to all of us is through conversation and collaboration … We will be taking some time to review the Band's decision in detail to determine our next steps."
The company has attempted to steer clear of the Standing Rock controversy, expressing support for the rights of protesters while insisting it was pleased with its pending acquisition and describing it as an "important link in [the company's] market access strategy." Enbridge announced in August it would spend $1.5-billion (U.S.) to acquire a 27-per-cent interest in the Bakken pipeline system, which includes the Dakota Access pipeline project. The deal was due to close in September but was delayed until year end, and now has been delayed again.
In rejecting the easement for the proposed river crossing in December, the Army Corps said it would conduct a full environmental assessment, which would at least delay the completion by several months, if not kill it outright. However, Energy Transfer Partners – and Republicans in Congress – criticized the decision as a political move by President Barack Obama to appease protesters.
Mr. Trump – a onetime investor in Energy Transfer Partners – has vowed to move quickly to approve pipeline projects that were stalled or rejected by the Obama administration, including the Dakota Access project and TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL proposal to deliver oil-sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
In a news conference this week, top industry lobbyist Jack Gerard urged Mr. Trump and the Republican-led Congress to move swiftly to approve pipeline projects, and ensure the "rule of law" with regards to opponents who aim to block them.
But lawyers for the Standing Rock Sioux Council say it won't be so easy to overturn the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to conduct a full environmental review of the proposed Missouri River crossing. "Reversing this decision would be arbitrary, capricious and unlawful, and we would challenge it in court," says the environmental legal group, Earthjustice, which represents the Standing Rock community.
With a report from Kelly Cryderman in Calgary