Dakota oil line filling amid 'attacks': Update

Adds details on Iowa incident.

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) still anticipates crude could flow on its 470,000 b/d Dakota Access pipeline this week, with linefill operations continuing even as unspecified violence is occurring along the route.

In a weekly status filing with the court where cases against the line are pending, ETP complained to US district judge James Boasberg about "recent coordinated physical attacks along the pipeline that pose threats to life, physical safety and the environment". Boasberg granted ETP's request to redact two paragraphs of the publicly available version of the report because of the alleged violence.

"These coordinated attacks will not stop linefill operations," ETP said.

The Mahaska County sheriff's department in Iowa reported an incident of vandalism at an above-ground portion of the Dakota Access pipeline last week. According to the department it appeared an intruder crawled under a security fence and used a blow torch to damage a safety valve on the pipeline, causing a hole the diameter of a pen. The pressure from the pipeline likely blew out the torch, the sheriff's department said. The incident was reported on 13 March but likely occurred earlier.

A spokeswoman for Energy Transfer declined to comment on any incidents beyond what was in the court filing.

The report follows a US Circuit Court of Appeals decision not to overturn Boasberg's previous opinion that the Cherokee Sioux and other tribes did not present a strong enough case of religious discrimination to warrant stopping the project. The tribe argued that oil flowing under Lake Oahe — a crossing that has been delayed for months by regulatory and court action — hindered its constitutional rights to conduct spiritual ceremonies.

When complete, the pipeline will move crude from North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois, as part of ETP's Bakken system, which continues on to the Texas coast at Nederland.