By Mari Radtke
Bruceanne Phillips, one of five individual holding the title of Vice President for “LS2 group,” a public relations and marketing firm based in Des Moines, Iowa sent a sample letter to Barb Rohwer, O’Brien County Auditor. The sample letter suggested statements for O’Brien County Supervisors to submit to the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) regarding a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) recently published by the ACE as ordered by the U.S. District Court for the District or Columbia on March 25, 2020.
Rohwer updated the board about the letter but no action has been discussed.
The ACE is currently accepting public comment for DAPL on its Environmental Impact Study (EIS) conducted on federal land at Lake Oahe in North Dakota. The public comment period is underway until November 13, 2023. Comments can be submitted via mail to:
Brent Cossette
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
CEMWO-ODT-N
1616 Capitol Avenue
Omaha, NE 68102
Or emailed to NOW-DAPL-EIS@usace.army.mil.
Two in-person public meetings on the matter are scheduled for November 1 and November 2 from 6:00 to 9:00pm at the Radisson Hotel in Bismark, ND.
Suggested comments focus on the county’s tax receipts from DAPL from 2017 through 2021 (stated as over $2 million) and the projected $600,000 payment for the 2022 tax year. The proposed language focuses totally on the economic effects closing of the pipeline would impose on O’Brien County. The pipeline taxes are based on the gallons of oil transported through it. If it is closed, it will not pay taxes.
The question of the corps’ easement being reissued through the federal lands around Lake Oahe in North Dakota what is under investigation. The 438-page draft impact study was completed in September 2023. The EIS can be read can be viewed at https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p1602coll7//is/24595