2 Possible Paths For The Dakota Access Pipeline

The Department of the Army has denied an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to cross Lake Oahe, and an alternative routing may need to be considered for the project.

Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) released a statement in which it termed the denial as an “overt and transparent political action” and indicated its determination to complete the project "without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe."

2 Ways Forward

There are two alternative paths for the project, “neither of which spells doom for DAPL,” Bernstein’s Jean Ann Salisbury said in a report.

Salisbury mentioned, however, that there were “obstacles to overturning the project via executive action,” although a Republican-controlled Congress would likely be able to “fast-track a reversal of the Army decision.”

The analyst maintains Outperform ratings on Energy Transfer Partners and Energy Transfer Equity LP (NYSE: ETE), with price targets at $39 and $18, respectively.

Image Credit: By Pax Ahimsa Gethen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons