The Dakota Access pipeline, an oil route from North Dakota to Illinois that has inspired intense protests and legal battles, is to be closed pending an environmental review and to be drained of oil by August 5, a district court ruled Monday.
The decision, which could be subject to appeal, is a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and other Native American groups and environmentalists who have fought the project for years, and a significant defeat for President Trump, who has tried to maintain Access to Dakota Live Pipeline.
“Today is a historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the many people who have supported us in the fight against the pipeline,” said Mike Faith, president of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, in a statement.
“This pipeline should never have been built here,” he added. “We told them that from the beginning.”
The ruling, by Judge James E. Boasberg of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, is the latest twist in a long-running legal battle. Basically, it releases a federal permit that had allowed the pipeline to operate while the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which had granted the permits for the pipeline, conducted an extensive environmental impact review.
Energy Transfer, the Texas company that owns the pipeline, said in a statement Monday that it would file a motion to suspend the decision and, if that failed, appeal to a higher court.
“We will immediately follow all available legal and administrative processes and are confident that once the law and full registration are fully considered, the Dakota Access Pipeline will not be closed and that oil will continue to flow,” he said.
In his opinion, Judge Boasberg wrote that the court was “aware of the disruption that such a closure would cause,” but that it had to consider “potential damage each day the pipeline operates.”
“This is shocking news,” said Ron Ness, chairman of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, adding that the pipeline has operated reliably for years and that the failure would harm the state’s economy and encourage other less secure means of oil transportation.
Energy Transfer said in its statement that if the pipeline were closed, state, local and tribal governments would lose billions of dollars in taxes and royalties.
“Farmers will suffer as the transportation of crude will move to the railroad, displacing the corn, wheat and soybean crops that would normally move to the market,” he said. “Ironically, counties along these rail lines will face increased environmental risks due to the increased amount of crude oil traveling by rail.”
If the failure continues and oil flow stops, the pipeline could still resume operations after the Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental review is complete. The Army Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The Dakota Access pipeline has been transporting oil for three years. In 2016, it was the subject of protests that lasted for months, and legal battles and political campaigns continued after the remains of the protest camp were razed.
“It took four long years,” said Jan Hasselman, a lawyer for the Earthjustice environmental group that represents the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. “But today justice has been done at Standing Rock.”
Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reserve is less than a mile from the pipeline, have long argued that a spill under the nearby Missouri River could contaminate the water they depend on for fishing, drinking and religious ceremonies.
They sued in 2016 in the Federal District Court in Washington to stop construction and obtained an early victory under the Obama administration when the Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would seek alternative routes.
Four days after President Trump took office in 2017, he signed an executive memorandum directing the body to “expeditiously review and approve” the pipeline. The move sparked protests outside the White House and Trump International Hotel.
Oil was flowing through the pipeline in June 2017.
In March, Judge Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ordered the federal government to conduct a new environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The ruling found that the “effects of the pipeline on the quality of the human environment can be highly controversial,” and that the federal government had not done enough to study the risks of a major spill, or whether the leak detection system of the pipeline was adequate.
It also ordered that both the tribe and the federal government submit reports on whether the pipeline should continue to operate during the new environmental review. Earthjustice’s attorney Hasselman said at the time that the tribe would request that the pipeline be closed until the review is complete. Monday’s ruling accepted that request.
“The shutdown will continue until a full environmental review, which normally takes several years, is completed and new permits are issued,” Earthjustice said in a statement Monday. “It may be up to a new administration to make final permitting decisions.”
Judge Boasberg’s ruling is the second win in two days for opponents of the pipeline. On Sunday, Duke Energy and Dominion Energy, two of the country’s largest utility companies, announced that they had canceled the pipeline off the Atlantic coast, which would have carried natural gas through the Appalachian Trail. The companies said the lawsuits, primarily from environmentalists, had raised costs to as much as $ 8 billion from about $ 4.5 billion to $ 5 billion.
