A federal judge has ordered that oil must stop flowing through the Dakota Access Pipeline until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can prepare an environmental impact statement.
First proposed in 2014, the Dakota Access Pipeline is designed to transport crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois through a series of underground pipes that cross South Dakota and Iowa. In Iowa, the pipeline crosses 18 counties from the Northwest corner to the Southeast, including Boone County. It has long been the subject of protests and legal suits from environmental activists, Native American tribes, and landowners over concerns about the environmental impact the pipeline may have and use of eminent domain to facilitate its construction.
In February of 2017 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, following an executive order from the newly sworn in President Donald Trump, granted an easement to Energy Transfer Partners needed to finish construction of the pipeline. Specifically, the easement allowed the pipeline to cross the Missouri River and the adjacent Lake Oahe, which is occupied by Native American reservations in South Dakota. Following the granting of the easement, the pipeline was completed and became commercially operational within a few months.
In spite of the pipeline becoming operational, legal challenges from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe have continued to work their way through the court system.
The Sioux tribes won a court victory on Monday, July 5 when District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to grant the easement without first completing an environmental impact statement violated the National Environmental Policy Act.
"Following multiple twists and turns in this long-running litigation, this Court recently found that Defendant U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it granted an easement to Defendant-Intervenor Dakota Access, LLC to construct and operate a segment of that crude-oil pipeline running beneath the lake. This was because the Corps had failed to produce an Environmental Impact Statement despite conditions that triggered such a requirement," wrote Judge Boasberg in the memorandum opinion. "When it comes to NEPA, it is better to ask for permission than forgiveness: if you can build first and consider environmental consequences later, NEPA’s action-forcing purpose loses its bite."
To that end, the court has ordered the easement to be vacated until the Army Corp of Engineers completes the mandated environmental impact statement. This will necessitate the entire pipeline to be shut down within 30 days of the decision and kept clear until the statement is finished.
"The Court does not reach its decision with blithe disregard for the lives it will affect. It readily acknowledges that, even with the currently low demand for oil, shutting down the pipeline will cause significant disruption to DAPL, the North Dakota oil industry, and potentially other states," wrote Judge Boasberg. "Yet, given the seriousness of the Corps’ NEPA error, the impossibility of a simple fix, the fact that Dakota Access did assume much of its economic risk knowingly, and the potential harm each day the pipeline operates, the Court is forced to conclude that the flow of oil must cease."
Energy Transfer has opposed this decision and immediately moved to appeal.
"We believe that the ruling issued this morning from Judge Boasberg is not supported by the law or the facts of the case. Furthermore, we believe that Judge Boasberg has exceeded his authority in ordering the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been safely operating for more than three years," wrote Energy Transfer in a press release. "We will be immediately pursuing all available legal and administrative processes and are confident that once the law and full record are fully considered Dakota Access Pipeline will not be shut down and that oil will continue to flow."
Energy Transfer filed an emergency motion to stay the order until an appeal could make its way through the court system arguing that, among other things, that completely shutting down the pipeline could take as long as three months. This motion was denied by Judge Boasberg.
