The controversial 1830 km, 30 inch diameter Bakken oil pipeline has at long last gotten a green light, as The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted final permits for the project on July 26. It was the final regulatory hurdle for the project, which received other necessary permits by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Utilities Board earlier this year.
In its wake the underground work of the pipeline project will start from North Dakota’s Bakken region and continue to Illinois, passing through a South Dakota section and eighteen counties in Iowa.
Despite possessing all regulatory permits, the Corps will conduct spot checks on certain sections when construction work begins. This will ensure that the project is following the conditions of wetland mitigation and sundry permits properly.

Dakota Access, a division of Energy Transfer Partners of Texas, is the developer of Bakken pipeline. In an email, Dakota Access has confirmed that they will now commence with the work on the project across the state after getting the Corps’ approval, which also includes the Mississippi river and Missouri river crossings.
This interstate pipeline has been estimated to cost $3.8 billion.