DES MOINES, IOWA – An Iowa law firm says a hearing is scheduled this week to address a possible suspension of the Dakota Access Pipeline, set to stretch across the state.
The Davis Brown Law Firm says that the hearing is scheduled for Friday, August 19, and will address the emergency motion filed on August 9 to prevent construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline across the property of fifteen Iowa landowners while a lawsuit remains pending in Polk County District Court.
The lawsuit asks whether a private company, which provides no service to Iowans, may use the state’s power of eminent domain to seize land from Iowa citizens for its private use.
As construction along the pipeline started in July, attorney Bill Hanigan asked the court for an expedited review.
Earlier this year, the Iowa Utilities Board ruled that Dakota Access may use the state’s power of eminent domain and could proceed with its proposed oil pipeline.
Mr. Hanigan, an attorney at the Davis Brown firm, argues that the Iowa Utilities Board misinterpreted Iowa law, specifically the 2006 law designed to protect Iowa farmland and the United States Constitution. The landowners believe that Dakota Access is not a public utility and should not have the ability to use eminent domain to forcibly access Iowa landowners’ property to build a private pipeline.
Some Iowans are furious over the pipeline, which runs diagonally from Northwest Iowa to Southeast Iowa. Last week, an Iowa property owner was arrested for protesting the construction of the pipeline near his water well after he put an American flag upside down on a flagpole, beneath the Chinese flag.
how on the hell can the IOWA useless board tell another state what to do. BS Demorat kickbacks – Go get em! their all crooked.
AH ! HA! The rest of the story about the flag – the old news media sure knows how to distort the facts – You only have to look as far as the corrupt demorats and see the corrupt press is in their pocket.