“So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked at a hearing of the House financial services committee.

“Because we don’t operate the pipeline. We provide financing to the company that is operating the company,” Sloan answered.

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“Why did Wells Fargo finance this pipeline when it was widely seen to be environmentally unstable?” Cortez said without providing evidence that the pipeline is unstable.

“The reason we were one of the 17 or 19 banks that financed that is because our team reviewed the environmental impact and we concluded it was a risk we were willing to take,” Sloan said.

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