SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Work on the four-state pipeline whose construction has sparked protests in North Dakota is nearly finished in South Dakota.
Energy Transfer Partners has told the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission that 100 percent of the pipe is underground in the state, including beneath waterways such as the Big Sioux River.
The $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile pipeline will carry oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois. Its construction has drawn thousands of protesters over the past several weeks to an area in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
The operator told the PUC Friday that the pump station in Redfield is 85 percent complete. The company is working on erosion control and testing.
