Nick Fetty | July 10, 2014

An 1,100-mile underground pipeline would run from Lyon County in the northwest corner of Iowa to Lee County in the southeast if it properly clears hurdles by various regulatory groups.

Energy Transfer Partners L.P. – a Dallas, Texas-based company – has yet to file a petition with the Iowa Utilities Board for regulatory review though hopes to meet with officials to discuss state requirements. The pipeline is expected to carry about 320,000 barrels of crude oil through 17 counties in the state each day.

This proposal comes on the heels of a booming oil production sector in North Dakota, particularly the Bakken region, which creates more than 1 million barrels per day. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technologies are often used to procure the oil. Environmentalists and other groups have been skeptical of these methods which have had adverse consciences in several instances.

Fright trains currently transport oil through nine counties in the northwest and northeast corners of the state. In 2013, a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, killing 47 in the Canadian town of Lac-Mégantic. Crude oil drilled in North Dakota’s Bakken region is considered “more flammable than other oil” which prompted the U.S. Department of Transportation to implement stricter regulations with the transportation of the substance.

Energy Transfer Partners’ Board of Directors has already approved plans for the 30-inch diameter pipeline and expects operations to begin by the end of 2016.

Edit: Post originally stated that the pipeline would pass through 17 Iowa counties.