A company based in Texas has asked the Iowa Utilities Board to approve its plans for a crude oil pipeline that would cross 18 Iowa counties, The Des Moines Register reported. The pipeline proposal has been controversial among farmers, environmental activists and others. Dakota Access LLC, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, proposes to transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields to Patoka, Ill., crossing Polk County in one section of the 343-mile route.