The US District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the US Army Corp of Engineers (ACE) to conduct a full environmental review of Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access crude oil pipeline. The order comes almost 3 years after the 470,000 b/d line was placed into service June 2017.
Dakota Access is still operating, but US District Judge James Boasberg requested that ACE and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe each submit briefings explaining why it should either remain in service or be shut down while the environmental review occurs.
The 30-in. OD pipeline runs 1,172 miles, carrying Bakken and Three Forks crude from northwestern North Dakota to Patoka, Ill.
ACE concluded in February 2017 that granting an easement for the Dakota Access segment running under the Missouri River would yield no significant environmental impact, exempting the agency from having to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Tribes with reservations near Lake Oahe challenged this decision.
The court held that ACE’s decision “largely complied with NEPA” but that there were “substantial exceptions,” including the agency’s failure to address expert comments noting that the pipeline suffered from serious flaws that could result in extensive environmental harm in the event of a spill. The court ordered ACE to consider these issues. The agency did so, with the tribes strongly disagreeing with its conclusions.
In its most recent ruling, the DC District Court concluded that too many questions regarding the environmental review process remained unanswered: “Unrebutted expert critiques regarding leak-detection systems, operator safety records, adverse conditions, and worst-case discharge mean that the easement approval remains “highly controversial” under NEPA. As the Court thus cannot find that the Corps has adequately discharged its duties under that statute, it will remand the matter to the agency to prepare an EIS.”
“The many commenters in this case pointed to serious gaps in crucial parts of the Corps’ analysis — to name a few, that the pipeline’s leak-detection system was unlikely to work, that it was not designed to catch slow spills, that the operator’s serious history of incidents had not been taken into account, and that the worst-case scenario used by the Corps was potentially only a fraction of what a realistic figure would be," Judge Boasberg continued.
The administration of US President Barack Obama denied permits for Dakota Access in December 2016. During his first week in office in January 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to expedite the pipeline’s construction.
