Dakota Access updates emergency management board
By Daniel Arens
Three representatives of Dakota Access Pipeline spoke with the Mercer County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) about progress and safety issues with the pipeline.
Frazier Lewis, pipeline operations manager, Brad Moore, who works under Lewis, and Mitch Williams, district engineer with Dakota Access, sat in on a LEPC meeting held at the city hall in Pick City last Thursday and discussed the current status of the pipeline.
They began by outlining basic information about the pipeline, which is designed to carry oil from Stanley through the state from northwest toward the southeast, and then on through portions of South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, where it will connect to an existing pipeline.
The pipeline will be monitored 24/7 by a station in Texas. If any issue is detected in the pipeline in this area, the station would contact Lewis and Moore, who could then take whatever action was necessary. There would also be coordination between pipeline workers and local emergency responders.
“We are dependent upon local knowledge to help us,” Williams said.
He added that successful management of the pipeline would come down to effective cooperation between the pipeline, local responders, and landowners whose property is crossed by the pipeline.
