Illinois regulators have unanimously rejected a request by environmental groups to delay a decision on Energy Transfer LP’s Dakota Access Pipeline expansion due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Save Our Illinois Land and Sierra Club, which oppose the expansion, told the Illinois Commerce Commission the oil price downturn caused by the pandemic lessened a need for the expansion, and that market data used to justify the project had become outdated.
The ICC still must rule on Energy Transfer’s application to increase capacity on its 570,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil pipeline by adding a series of pumping stations. The project has received approvals from several other U.S. states.
The environmental groups asked the commission to delay a final decision on the expansion application and order a hearing to introduce new evidence related to oil market conditions. They also cited a recently ordered federal environmental review of a segment of the pipeline.
