First week of pipeline hearing wraps up

By: 
Erin Sommers Graphic-Advocate Editor

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Iowans could see an annual benefit of about $130 per person per year if a proposed oil pipeline is built, according to an economic expert.
Mike Lipsman, an economist and planner with Strategic Economics Group hired by Dakota Access LLC to prepare an economic impact report for the project, offered the estimate in response to a question by landowner John Zakrasek. That figure was not included in Lipsman’s written testimony, filed last month with the Iowa Utilities Board. Lipsman, during a Thursday afternoon session of the IUB hearing, said he calculated that figure for an economic journal he works for.
An attorney representing another person opposed to the project stopped Lipsman’s testimony, objecting that Lipsman had not filed information about that part of his testimony prior to the hearing. The IUB opted to allow Lipsman to proceed with that line of testimony, but Zakrasek, who is not an attorney, declined to ask more related questions. Zakrasek did press Lipsman on longer-term economic impacts to farmers, particularly those landowners who are near developing areas of the state and who might someday wish to sell their land, through which the pipeline would be located. 
Read more in the Nov. 25 edition. 

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