The Dakota Access Pipeline will begin shipping crude oil across state lines beginning next month, in line with President Trump’s executive memo ordering the project to be expedited.
The shipments will begin on Mother’s Day, pending federal approval.
Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the project, filed for tariff approval with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission late Thursday to begin shipping oil from North Dakota to Illinois beginning May 14.
FERC, the nation’s interstate energy regulator, must provide a permit, called a tariff, to ship oil across state lines under the Interstate Commerce Act. Filings from the company also showed that Dakota Access is part of a much bigger pipeline system, as it will join up with another interstate project, called the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline, to move crude to refineries in Texas.
The ETCO pipeline also will “be entering interstate service on May 14, 2017,” moving crude oil from North Dakota, through Illinois, and southward to Texas refineries on the Gulf Coast, according to the filing.
The cost of the Dakota Access line when combined with the ETCO project will jump from $3.8 billion to nearly $5 billion and traverse an additional 744 miles, for a total of 1,916 miles.
Trump has touted the Dakota Access approval, along with the Keystone XL, as a key part of his energy agenda. The tribal groups looking to block the pipeline in court have been denied, although new legal action has been started to roll back approval of Keystone XL.
A FERC spokeswoman said protesters have 15 days to file in opposition to the tariff request or it will automatically take effect.
