Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline continue their resistance efforts in North Dakota. Photo by Photo by Rob Wilson Photography [GoFundMe]

Environment | National | Politics

Dakota Access ramps up spending on lobbying and politicians as battle continues

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

• Pipeline backers were lobbying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers long before the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was told of the route.
• CEO Kelcy Warren is a top donor to Republican Donald Trump, who has vowed to ease "roadblocks" for large infrastructure projects like Dakota Access.

The backers of the Dakota Access Pipeline are spending more money on lobbying firms and on politicians, a sign of the high stakes battle over the $3.8 billion project.

Energy Transfer Partners spent $790,000 on two Washington, D.C., firms in all of 2015, according to disclosure reports. But so far this year, the expenditures have jumped to $950,000 -- and there's still one more quarter in 2016 to go.

When lobbying fees for Sunoco Logistics Partners, another Dakota Access entity, are included, the tally grows even higher. If the spending continues at the current pace, pipeline backers will exceed the $1.25 million they paid in 2015.

The increase is not a coincidence. It comes as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is engaged in its own lobbying effort to defeat the costly pipeline, which comes within a half-mile of the reservation and threatens sacred sites, burial grounds and water resources.

Two firms in Washington, D.C., have been paid $950,000 so far this year to lobby for the Dakota Access Pipeline. Source: Senate Office of Public Records

But while the #NoDAPL movement has widespread support in Indian Country, Dakota Access has clearly won the lobbying race. So far this year, the tribe has only spent $80,000 on one firm and that figure includes expenditures on issues besides the pipeline, according to disclosure reports.

Dakota Access in fact has been lobbying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for years -- long before the tribe was made aware of the route. According to the reports, AUX Initiatives, LLC has been hired for the sole purpose of ensuring "compliance" with agency policy.

Compliance apparently is costly -- AUX Initiatives was paid $380,000 in 2015 and has been paid $590,000 so far this year to lobby the Army Corps. The agency's role has become extremely important because a key easement remains under review -- without it, the pipeline can't transport oil along the current route.

But Dakota Access hasn't put all of its crude in one basket. Daryl Owen Associates, Inc has been hired to lobby another branch of the U.S. government -- Congress.

The same two lobbying firms were paid $790,000 in 2015, before Indian Country rallied behind the #NoDAPL movement. Source: Senate Office of Public Records

According to the reports, Daryl Owen has been focusing on legislation that could have put a crimp in the project. Late this summer, as the #NoDAPL movement gained steam, Democrats were trying to include anti-pipeline amendments to the Water Resources Development Act, a national water bill.

The $360,000 spent on Daryl Owen so far this year appears to have paid off. Republicans refused to add the #NoDAPL amendments to H.R.5303 and S.2848 and both bills passed the House and the Senate, respectively, last month.

And when it comes to elections, Dakota Access is winning the money race there too. Energy Transfer Partners has formed a political action committee (PAC) as well as a "527" organization, which can raise unlimited funds, all in an effort to influence who gets to serve in the House and the Senate.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group, Energy Transfer's PAC has spent almost all of its money on Republican politicians so far in the 2016 election cycle. Recipients include Republicans who serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee, the committees with authority over the Water Resources Development Act.

In comparison, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has spent $80,000 on one lobbying firm in 2016, a figure that includes expenditures on issues other than the Dakota Access Pipeline. Source: Senate Office of Public Records

In the 2014 cycle, the PAC spent nearly 80 percent of its money on Republicans, including Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), who at the time was seeking a second term in office. He received $1,500, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and is now one of the biggest defenders of Dakota Access.

Cramer is running for a third term and his Democratic opponent is Chase Iron Eyes, a Standing Rock citizen who has made Dakota Access an issue on the campaign trail.

As with the lobbying spending, Dakota Access political expenditures in the 2016 cycle are on track to meet or exceed those from 2014. Those efforts appear largely to be funded by executives from Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco.

Energy Transfer's CEO Kelcy Warren too has poured millions of dollars of his money into elections. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, he donated a whopping $6 million to a political action committee that supported Rick Perry, a former governor of Texas and two-time failed Republican presidential candidate. Energy Transfer is based in Texas

The Energy Transfer Partners political action committee donates mainly to Republicans, represented in the bar graph in red. Source: Center for Responsive Politics

But with his candidate out of the race, Warren is now supporting Donald Trump. He is one of the Republican presidential nominee's top five wealthy donors, according to Capital Research Center.

In his first 100 days in office, Trump has vowed to remove the Obama administration's "roadblocks" to large-scale infrastructure projects like Dakota Access.

"We have roadblocks like you have never ever seen: environmental blocks, structural blocks," Trump said in Pennsylvania on Saturday. "We are going to allow the Keystone Pipeline and so many other things to move forward."

"Tremendous numbers of jobs, and good for our country," Trump added as the crowd applauded, echoing arguments advanced by backers of Dakota Access.

Forbes places Warren's net worth at $3.8 billion, making him number 150 on the list of 400 wealthiest Americans.

Dakota Access Pipeline Lobbying Disclosure Reports for 2016:
AUX Initiatives First Quarter | AUX Initiatives Second Quarter | AUX Initiatives Third Quarter
Daryl Owen Associates First Quarter | Daryl Owen Associates Second Quarter | Daryl Owen Associates Third Quarter