Fed Judge Shuts Down Dakota Access Pipeline: President Yurugu Granted Permits w/o Any Public Process or Regard for Native American Treaty Rights, Water Systems, Resources & Historic Properties

From [HERE] and [HERE] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Monday that the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) must shut down pending a review of its environmental impact. This ruling comes after Judge James Boasberg ruled in March that the US Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Boasberg ordered a full environmental review and production of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which can take several years. Further, they must seek new permits.

Additionally, Boasberg explained that he “is mindful of the disruption such a shutdown will cause.” However, he stated, “[T]he seriousness of the Corps’ deficiencies outweighs the negative effects of halting the oil flow for the thirteen months that the Corps believes the creation of an EIS will take.” Ultimately, Boasberg concluded:

[G]iven 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.

Former president Barack Obama rejected [JURIST report] the pipeline in 2012 and 2015 on climate change grounds, but President Donald Trump gave the project a green light shortly after his inauguration in 2017 via a presidential permit. According to the suit,

TransCanada’s permit applications had been denied two previous times, but on January 24, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed a memorandum “invit[ing] TransCanada . . . to promptly re-submit its application to the Department of State for a Presidential permit for the construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline.” Memorandum: Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, 82 Fed. Reg. 8,663, § 2 (Jan. 24, 2017) (“the Memorandum”). Unlike in the two previous permit applications, Defendants initiated no public process or environmental review of any kind for the third permit application.

Despite the lack of any public process and review, on March 23, 2017, the Department of State published its Record of Decision and National Interest Determination (“2017 Decision”). Plaintiffs’ Exhibit A; see 82 Fed. Reg. 16,467 (Apr. 4, 2017). Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., granted TransCanada’s permit application and issued it a presidential permit (“the Permit”).

In granting this third application, Defendants reached the exact opposite conclusion as the previous administration on the very same record, in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. 5. In granting this third application, there was no analysis of the trust obligation the federal government owes to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and their unique water system, no analysis of the potential impact of the Pipeline on treaty rights, no analysis of the subpar leak detection system and the potential impact of spills on Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s members, and no analysis of the potential impact on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s cultural resources and historic properties in the path of the Pipeline, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act [MORE]