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March 25, 2020 D.C. DISTRICT COURT ORDERS EIS FOR DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINEpdf
On March 25, 2020, the Unites States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Memorandum Opinion in Civil Action No. 16-1534, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, et al. vs. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, et al., ordering the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the already completed and operational Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline, which originally cost $3.8 billion, transports crude oil 1,172 miles underground from the Bakken formation in western North Dakota to central Illinois. Judge James E. Boasberg agreed with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that there was enough “unresolved scientific controversy” about the pipeline’s impacts to merit the EIS, adding that the pipeline could be defined as “highly controversial” under the National Environmental Policy Act. Although the ruling does not affect operation of the pipeline, Judge Boasberg has asked the parties to brief the issue of whether the easement should be vacated during the EIS preparation period. The full text of the Memorandum Opinion is available in the attached PDF.