Current Events > Dakota Access Pipeline to be shut down next month, court rules

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https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/court-scraps-dakota-access-pipeline-permit-forcing-shutdown

The Dakota Access pipeline must shut down by Aug. 5, a district court ruled Monday in a stunning defeat for the Trump administration and the oil industry.

The decision, which shuts the pipeline during a court-ordered environmental review thats expected to extend into 2021, is a momentous win for American Indian tribes that have opposed the Energy Transfer LP project for years. It comes just a day after Dominion Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. scuttled another project, the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline, after years of legal delays.

Environmentalists have increasingly used the courts to try to block additional investment in fossil fuel infrastructure while they push for a clean energy transition. Tribes, landowners, and other project opponents have also complained about local impacts from construction and potential spills on or near their land.

The sophisticated legal onslaught has led to delays and disruptions for numerous other proposed and operational pipelines, including Keystone XL. But Mondays court order, if upheld on appeal, marks the first time a major, in-service oil pipeline will be forced to shutter because of environmental concerns.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said a crucial federal permit for Dakota Access fell too far short of National Environmental Policy Act requirements to allow the pipeline to continue operating while regulators conduct a broader analysis the court ordered in a previous decision.

The ruling scraps a critical permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, and requires the pipeline to end its three-year run of delivering oil from North Dakota shale fields to an Illinois oil hub. Judge James E. Boasberg said Dakota Access must shut down the pipeline and empty it of oil by Aug. 5.

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, tribal Chairman Mike Faith said in a statement. This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning.

The Army Corps referred questions about the ruling to the Justice Department, which didnt immediately respond to requests for comment, including on whether it intends to appeal the ruling.

Energy Transfer also didnt immediately respond. The companys shares fell as much as 7.7% on Monday while most other pipeline operators rose.

Continental Resources Inc., the shale producer founded by Harold Hamm, another prominent Trump supporter, also fell on the decision, as did Hess Corp. Both companies have significant operations in the Bakken shale field, and a shutdown of Dakota Access will make it harder for them to pipe their crude out of the basin.

The decision is likely to be enormously disruptive, said Katie Bays, co-founder of Washington-based Sandhill Strategy LLC. The Army Corps 18-month timeline for addressing flaws in its environmental review makes Energy Transfer vulnerable to a change in administration and a more draconian policy towards oil pipelines, she said.

Southern Methodist University law professor James Coleman said the ruling just totally overturns that conventional wisdom that courts will never force in-service pipelines to shut down.

Boasbergs decision comes after four years of litigation from tribes opposed to Dakota Access route across Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri River just a half-mile from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in the Dakotas.

The Standing Rock Sioux, Cheyenne River Sioux, and others sued the Army Corps for approving the water crossing in 2016, saying it put tribal water supplies and cultural resources at risk.

Their frustrations triggered an outpouring of support from fellow tribes, indigenous advocates, and environmentalists from across the country. Thousands of pipeline opponents camped out in North Dakota for months to show their opposition.

The Obama administration responded by withholding a final permit and committing to a new consultation process, but President Donald Trump quickly put Dakota Access back on track after taking office in 2017.

Kelcy Warren, the billionaire chief executive officer of Energy Transfer, has long been a Trump fan. He recently hosted a fundraiser for the presidents re-election campaign at his private Dallas home.

My God, this is going to be refreshing, Warren told investors two days after Trump won the last election.

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Wait for the GOP to change whatever laws they need to get it running again.

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Bump
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Hell yeah.

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Hell yeah
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Do you know why this falls under the DC circuit court's jurisdiction?

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Good. It never should have built in the first place.

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https://youtu.be/NxLYJJnlGs8

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like i said in the other topic, it sounds like its still gonna go through, they are just waiting for the corrupt environmental report

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I don't even know what that is, however...

Antifar posted...

stunning defeat for the Trump

I approve


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Good. Fuck pipelines and fuck the evil people building them and helping them get built

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Antifar posted...

Dominion Energy Inc.

Lol, did they really call themselves that? Why not just go all out and name your company Evil Corp :|

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Nice

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you love to see it

Schwarz posted...

Lol, did they really call themselves that? Why not just go all out and name your company Evil Corp :|

I believe Dominion or Old Dominion is an old-timey nickname for Virginia, where the company is based.
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Get fucked

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I remember when Obama wouldn't step in and halt the production of the pipeline until Trump was announced the winner.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/us-army-corps-blocks-dakota-access-pipeline-232172

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/business/dakota-access-pipeline-shutdown/index.html

Judge orders temporary shutdown of controversial Dakota Access Pipeline

I'd love to celebrate but...

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All this winning, I'm sick of it.

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is this the one that goes through a lake ?


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marc55 posted...

is this the one that goes through a lake ?

Yes

Also the same pipeline that had one original proposed route removed from consideration because it crossed the river upstream from Bismarck.
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