Dakota Access oil could flow by March 6
A status report from the contested Dakota Access Pipeline says it has completed the pilot hole for its horizontal drill under the Missouri River and the pipeline will be ready to flow oil as early as March 6.
The company filed the information in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to comply with a federal court order for weekly updates on the pipeline’s status while litigation with the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes continues.
The first status report, filed Monday, says the pilot hole that stretches 7,500 feet from one side of the Missouri River/Lake Oahe just north of Standing Rock is being reamed to accept the 30-inch-diameter pipe.
The day after the main protest camp was cleared the Dakota Access announced oil could flow less than 2 weeks from now. The oil company previously said it could take as long as May until oil flowed through the pipes. It's probably flowing sooner rather than later because they didn't want to give the protesters any kind of information that could be used to hamper the drilling efforts.
However, the battle isn't over yet the Tribe still is fighting this in courts and protesters are still camped out on private land just south of the main camp. I would expect the protesters still have one or two good fights left in them but I'm afraid the size of protests will be no where near what we saw last fall when thousands of people came out to show support for the Tribe and water protectors.
Drone footage from yesterday's police raid on the main camp.
https://steemit.com/nodapl/@wakeupnd/photos-dapl-protesters-arrested-camp-cleared
(Photos I posted of the raid)