Above Photo: Protest in Bismark, ND against Dakota Pipeline 8-16
Dakota Access Pipeline’s Massive Government Subsidies
The Dakota Access Pipeline has faced strong resistance from Native Americans, farmers, and ranchers along the proposed pipeline route. It’s also energized the broader climate movement and raised critical questions of protecting clean water, respecting native sovereignty, and rethinking eminent domain for private gain.
This briefing brings to light another egregious aspect of the whole affair – the fact that U.S. taxpayers and ratepayers are heavily subsidizing the primary owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline project, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
The briefing identifies how through their corporate structures as Master Limited Partnerships, key Dakota Access owners Energy Transfer Partners and Enbridge Energy Partners collectively avoided paying over $650 million in taxes in 2015. Additionally, federal pipeline regulations allow companies to charge customers for these taxes they never paid in the first place, leading to even higher subsidies. These are just two of the many subsidies enjoyed by the owners of Dakota Access
Dakota Access is a travesty for a long list of reasons, and its construction should be stopped immediately to protect land, water, native sovereignty, and our climate. But in addition, it’s high time to stop giving away billions of taxpayer dollars to fossil fuel companies.