The US Army Corps of Engineers announced Sunday that they will no longer allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross below the Missouri River crossing on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, marking a major victory for Native Americans and protesters who had opposed the construction.
Helen H. Richardson | The Denver Post | fake pictures
A district court ruled Monday that the Dakota Access Pipeline must close within 30 days, before August 5, according to a copy of the brief obtained by USA Today.
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia removed a key permit from the Army Corps of Engineers and ordered the pipeline to complete its three-year stretch of oil delivery from the Bakken shale basin of North Dakota to its end point in Illinois. The decision marked the end of a yearlong legal battle over environmental damage from the Energy Transfer Partners-owned pipeline to the Missouri River.
President Donald Trump granted the permit in 2017 over objections from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental activists, arguing that oil spills could contaminate their water source and put their culture at risk.
The court ruled the pipeline closed pending a previously ordered full environmental review.
“The Corps had failed to produce an Environmental Impact Statement despite the conditions that triggered such a requirement,” the court ruling stated. “Although aware of the disruption that such a closure will cause, the Tribunal now concludes that the answer is yes.”
“Given the severity of the Corps’ NEPA error, the impossibility of a simple solution, the fact that Dakota Access knowingly assumed much of its financial risk and the potential damage each day the pipeline operates, the Court is forced to conclude that the flow of oil must stop, “said the ruling.
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