The Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal of a lawsuit over the Dakota Access Pipeline on Tuesday, delivering a blow to operators who had hoped that the justices would halt an environmental impact review of the pipeline.
Tuesday’s high court decision, which leaves the pipeline at risk of being shut down, comes after Washington, D.C., District Court Judge James Boasberg ordered the federal government to undertake a more thorough environmental impact review of the pipeline in 2020, concluding that an earlier review conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was inadequate.
Boasberg also ruled the pipeline should be shut down until the release of the report, but that decision was blocked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, who let the rest of his decision move forward.
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The lower court’s decision was appealed in September by operators of the Dakota Access Pipeline, who also argued that without permits, the pipeline is operating unlawfully — putting it at a “substantial risk of a shutdown,” Reuters reported.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is slated to complete its review of the pipeline, which runs from North Dakota to Illinois, later this year.
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Justices declined to elaborate on their decision not to take the case on Tuesday, but they noted that Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in consideration.
