PUC Cuts Yankton Tribe Slack on Late Testimony Against Dakota Access Pipeline

The Public Utilities Commission signals that it is turning into a bunch of war-on-oil liberals! Yesterday, along with setting September 30–October 2 and October 6–9 for the evidentiary hearing on the Dakota Access Pipeline, Commissioners Gary Hanson and Chris Nelson and utilities player Rich Sattgast (our state treasurer sitting in for conflicted-out commissioner Kristie Fiegen, whose sister-in-law owns land on the pipeline route) bent the commission’s rules and accepted late written testimony from a pipeline opponent.

All pre-filed testimony was supposed to be in by last Friday, but the Yankton Sioux Tribe asked the PUC on Monday to accept rebuttal testimony from tribal Business and Claims Committeeman Jason Cooke. The Monday motion states that Cooke “became unavailable due to his duties as an elected Tribal official and was unable to finalize and submit his testimony at that time.” Cooke testifies that Dakota Access has not consulted with the Yankton Sioux Tribe about the pipeline’s impact on tribal archaeological resources, recreational opportunities, or safety and law enforcement issues related to the influx of 1,448 pipeline construction workers.

Dakota Access understandably says nuts to Cooke’s late testimony: deadlines are deadlines, and besides, the pipeline doesn’t even cross the Yankton Sioux Tribe’s diminished reservation. Dakota Access also alleges that the tribe hasn’t played nicely in discovery.

But the PUC cuts the tribe slack:

Commissioner Gary Hanson said he wants the information. State Treasurer Rich Sattgast, serving as an acting commissioner in place of Kristie Fiegen, who had a conflict, said he had reservations, but agreed with Hanson.

“I don’t think it will hurt the process by allowing more testimony in,” Sattgast said [Bob Mercer, “Panel Accepts Late Testimony from Tribal Official in Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Dispute,” Aberdeen American News, 2015.08.21].

But hey, the rest of you intervenors, don’t even think of setting your calendars back another couple days. Commissioner Nelson is watching you:

Commission chairman Chris Nelson said he “reluctantly” supported accepting the testimony. Nelson said deadlines are intentional — “We expect everybody to abide by that” — and the decision doesn’t indicate the commission will start “fudging” on any other deadlines.

Hanson added the commission doesn’t want the Dakota Access matter to become like some other dockets where people are repeatedly late. “It can become a real problem,” he said. “Folks have a lot of time. It’s not like a surprise they have to do filing” [Mercer, 2015.08.21].

It’s nice to see tribal officials and environmentalists catch a break from South Dakota Republicans every now and then. Let’s hope Hanson, Nelson, and Sattgast didn’t expend all of their goodwill toward local land rights and environmental precaution in this small motion.