The Iowa Utilities board is the subject of a lawsuit filed hoping to bar the use of eminent domain to open land in the state for use of the Dakota Access Pipeline from the Bakken oil fields.
The Des Moines Register reports that the lawsuit was filed Friday (April 8th) in Polk County alleges that the pipleine does not function as a utility and should not fall under the rules for such things.
The proposed pipeline would be 1,130 miles long and would pass through North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa before reaching a larger hub in Illinois. The suit, filed on behalf of the Northwest Iowa Landowners Association along with some individual landowners, could pose a significant hurdle to the project.
A spokesman for the Iowa board was not able to comment at the time of this writing.