As an archaeologist involved in Cultural Resource Management projects in central Iowa for some 50 years, I am aware that certain government projects result in the “public good” which overrides private property ownership.

I interacted with many proud owners of Century Farms who did not want to give up their lands for the construction and operation of Red Rock and Saylorville Reservoirs. But there was the ultimate outcome of pubic good to central Iowans: flood control, aquatic recreation, public camping facilities, improved transportation etc.

On the other hand, I see absolutely no substantial or continuing public good resulting from the Bakken Pipeline, a private rather than public project, across Story County and the state of Iowa.

Rather there are a whole host of deleterious effects: destruction of important cultural and natural resources, disruption of farming operations, destruction of soil tilth (as overwhelmingly documented by experts in the ISU Agronomy Department), actual and potential polluting of Iowa’s rivers and wetlands, especially where the pipeline crosses drainage ways, and contamination of drinking and irrigation water.

For all these reasons, I urge the Iowa Utilities Board to reject the Bakken Pipeline across Iowa.