The North Dakota Public Service Commission has voted to grant a permit to Energy Transfer to build a new pump station near Linton, which will allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to transport significantly more oil on a daily basis.
The three-member commission unanimously approved the request at a meeting Wednesday morning.
The pump station in Emmons County will allow Energy Transfer to double the capacity of the Dakota Access Pipeline from 570,000 barrels of oil per day to about 1.1 million barrels.
In a statement released following the commission’s decision, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe expressed disappointment. “The PSC is required to consider what the doubling of the flow of oil in an existing pipeline would have on North Dakota family farms and ranches, and North Dakota citizens’ health and safety,” the statement reads.
“Today, the PSC failed to do its job for the people of North Dakota,” it continues.
Plans to expand the pipeline’s production have drawn pushback from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which worries about the possible environmental impacts of oil spills.
Energy Transfer hopes to begin construction of the new pump station this spring.
