Fifteen states have signed onto a friend of the court brief in backing a regional ag coalition led by the South Dakota and North Dakota Farm Bureaus to keep the Dakota Access Pipeline operating. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Court will be considering an injunction to halt the pipeline. North Dakota Farm Bureau Public Policy Director Pete Hanebutt says it’s critical to keep the pipeline flowing.

He says it’s much safer to deliver oil via the pipeline rather than by rail or truck.

Hanebutt says their coalition is fighting to try and convince the court not to allow the injunction.

January 8 is the deadline for briefs to be filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the case.