A nation’s attention has swirled around the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota while the South Dakota portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline is already built.

Over the course of eight hearings, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission heard both sides of the proposed pipeline debate. Chairman Chris Nelson says the application then needs to fit criteria based on state law.

“We then took all the information from both the company and the opponents. Our task then is to determine if this project and the route the company is proposing meet the criteria in state law to get a permit.”

Nelson says the PUC determined the application was valid, but wanted the company to go a little farther in order to build.

“We determined that it met the criteria in South Dakota State law, but we attached 70 conditions to that permit. If and when the project is built there are specific things that have to be done to take care of South Dakota.”

According to Nelson one of those conditions was obtaining all permits from various government entities before moving the first pile of dirt.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is 92 percent complete, but is on hold due to the Army Corps of Engineers denying a permit for a key stretch of pipeline in North Dakota.

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