A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Dakota Access oil pipeline can continue operating while a study is completed to assess its environmental impact on an American Indian tribe.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s decision will come as a blow to the Standing Rock Sioux, who have argued that an oil spill from the pipeline under Lake Oahe — from which the tribe draws its water — could have a detrimental effect on the tribal community.
Boasberg also acknowledged that shutting down the pipeline would disrupt the energy industry, but said it wasn’t a major factor in his decision.
The $3.8 billion pipeline built by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners has been operating since June 1, moving oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point in Illinois.
Boasberg ruled on June 14 that the Corps largely complied with environmental law, but he ordered the agency to reconsider certain areas of its analysis, and took arguments on whether to shut down the 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) pipeline while the work is done.
Boasberg in June said the Corps didn’t adequately consider how an oil spill under the Lake Oahe reservoir on the Missouri River in the Dakotas might affect the Standing Rock Sioux.
The judge said the Corps also didn’t adequately study how the pipeline might disproportionately affect the tribal community — a concept known as environmental justice.
In its analysis of the Missouri River crossing, the Corps studied the mostly white demographics in a half-mile (0.8-kilometer) radius, which the agency maintains is standard.
Boasberg in his ruling Wednesday said that issue was "a closer call" than the others, but that it still did not justify shutting down the pipeline.
Tribal attorneys argued that ETP had overstated the potential effects of a shutdown, and Boasberg acknowledged "some cause for skepticism" regarding ETP’s predictions.