- Details
- By Levi Rickert
WASHINGTON — A U.S. district judge on Friday allowed oil to keep flowing through the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) during an environmental impact study ordered previously by the court.
Last October, Earthjustice on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe filed a lawsuit to shut down the DAPL.
Judge James Boasberg, of the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia, wrote in his decision released on Friday that in order to get a shutdown, the tribes “must demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable injury from the action they seek to enjoin — to wit, the pipeline’s operation."
Friday’s opinion was opposite to the judge’s ruling last year that said that the pipeline should be shut down while the review is underway. The shutdown was stayed by a federal appeals court that upheld Judge Boasberg’s decision that a review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must be conducted but reversed the shut down order.
Judge Boasberg said authority to shut down the pipeline rests with the Corps, not the court.
“Judges may travel only as far as the law takes them and no further,” he wrote.
Help us report important Indigenous news with a donation to Native News Online.
“The Corps has conspicuously declined to adopt a conclusive position regarding the pipeline’s continued operation, despite repeated prodding from this Court and the Court of Appeals to do so,” Judge Boasberg wrote.
After the judge’s order was released, Earthjustice attorney Jan Hassleman said the DAPL is dangerous and should be shuttered during the period the Corps conducts ite review.
“We believe the Dakota Access Pipeline is too dangerous to operate and should be shuttered while environmental and safety implications are studied — but despite our best efforts, today’s injunction was not granted. The unacceptable risk of an oil spill, impacts to Tribal sovereignty and harm to drinking water supply must all be examined thoroughly in the months ahead as the U.S. Army Corps conducts its review of this pipeline,” Hassleman said in a statement.
The Dakota Access pipeline was the center of controversy five years ago when tens of thousands of American Indians and allies protested at Standing Rock. The DAPL crosses beneath the Missouri River at Lake Oahe just half a mile from the Standing Rock Indian reservation in North Dakota, on unceded ancestral lands.
According to documents filed with the court, the Corps estimates the environmental review will be completed in March 2022.
CLICK to read Judge Boasberg’s opinion.
More Stories Like This
Sault Tribe Joins the Fight for Mother Nature’s Legal Rights with New ResolutionFormer NCAI President Fawn Sharp Appointed to Nature Conservancy Board
New Interagency Agreement Supports Water Tribal Water and Sanitation Projects
Biden Unrolls Multi-Million Dollar Solar Grant on Earth Day, More to Come Throughout Week
Native American Rights Fund Gets $100K For Tribal Eco-Stewardship Legal Support
Native Perspective. Native Voices. Native News.
We launched Native News Online because the mainstream media often overlooks news that is important is Native people. We believe that everyone in Indian Country deserves equal access to news and commentary pertaining to them, their relatives and their communities. That's why the story you’ve just finished was free — and we want to keep it that way, for all readers. We hope you'll consider making a donation to support our efforts so that we can continue publishing more stories that make a difference to Native people, whether they live on or off the reservation. Your donation will help us keep producing quality journalism and elevating Indigenous voices. Any contribution of any amount — big or small — gives us a better, stronger future and allows us to remain a force for change. Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous-centered journalism. Thank you.
