Washington, DC -- Late yesterday, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court of Washington, DC ruled that the federal permits granted to Energy Transfer Partners to construct the fracked oil Dakota Access Pipeline across the Missouri River -- just upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe -- failed to fulfill National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements, violating the law. The judge wrote that the Army Corps of Engineers “did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial.”
Prior to leaving office, President Barack Obama ordered construction on the pipeline to stop as a thorough environmental review was conducted. Days after his inauguration, Donald Trump reversed this decision. In a speech last week, Donald Trump claimed that no one had the guts to move Dakota Access Pipeline forward, but he closed his eyes and said “do it.”
While the judge did not rule whether pipeline operations must be shut off, there is judicial precedent for courts making such an order. In the case Montana Wilderness Association v. Fry, a federal court in Montana shut down an operating oil pipeline for NEPA violations. The judge in that case stated, “although the 1999 pipeline has already been constructed and currently in use, it can be removed or shut down.” In another case vindicating tribal concerns, though not hinging on violation of NEPA, in Davilla v. Enable Midstream Partners, the judge ordered the permanent injunction and removal of a gas pipeline on tribal grounds in Oklahoma after failing to secure consent.
In response, Sierra Club Our Wild America Director Lena Moffitt released the following statement:
“Today’s ruling is a vindication for the Standing Rock Sioux whose only demands are that they be afforded the same rights to clean water and a protected home as millions of Americans across the country. As the Tribe, Water Protectors, and people across the country have declared for months, the slapdash decision approving this pipeline not only endangered the home, history, and heritage of the Standing Rock Sioux, it was illegal.
“Energy Transfer must immediately turn off this dirty and dangerous pipeline while the Army Corps conducts a thorough environmental review.”
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