"Financial Disaster": Could Dakota Access Pipeline Lose Its Contracts with Oil Companies on Jan. 1?

Throughout November, protesters held dozens of demonstrations worldwide at banks to demand they divest from the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Already, the largest bank in Norway, DNB, has been pressured to sell its assets in the companies behind the pipeline, and it’s considering whether to terminate three separate loans the bank has made to finance the project. Meanwhile, a new report has exposed the "Rickety Finances Behind the Dakota Access Pipeline." Published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and the Sightline Institute, it spotlights a potential economic weakness of the project: the January 1 deadline by which Energy Transfer Partners had promised oil companies it would have completed construction. Missing the January 1 deadline opens up the possibility the pipeline company may lose its contracts with oil companies. We speak with co-author Clark Williams-Derry, director of energy finance at the Sightline Institute, and Michael Vendiola, member of the Swinomish Indian tribal community who helped organize a protest at Wells Fargo in solidarity with Standing Rock and with the Canadian First Nations resisting another major oil pipeline—the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion project.