Tribe Files Formal Request For Hearing On Pipeline Expansion

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The Standing Rock Sioux has requested a hearing on a plan by the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline to double the line's capacity. Tribal Chairman Mike Faith says in a letter to state regulators that doubling the pipeline's capacity increases the "consequences as well as the likelihood" of an oil spill.

State regulators agreed last month to consider a hearing if one was formally requested. The tribe was the first to submit a request. The Sierra Club says it also will file a request by the Friday deadline.

Energy Transfer announced in June it plans to expand the pipeline's capacity from more than 500,000 barrels per day to as much as 1.1 million barrels.

The pipeline sparked massive protests in North Dakota before it began moving oil in 2017.

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