A federal judge in Washington denied a preliminary injunction that would have stopped construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota and South Dakota.
In an opinion issued Friday afternoon, District Judge James Boasberg said the pipeline would not cause irreparable harm to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. The tribe had sought the injunction because the oil pipeline would cross the Missouri River upstream from its tribal lands, meaning a leak could endanger its water supply and it could sully sacred lands.
The tribe accused the Army Corps of Engineers of not consulting with the tribe enough regarding the pipeline’s construction. Boasberg said he disagreed.
“After digging through a substantial record on an expedited basis, the court cannot concur,” Boasberg wrote. “It concludes that the Corps has likely complied with the [National Historic Preservation Act] and that the tribe has not shown it will suffer injury that would be prevented by any injunction the court could issue.”
Earlier this week, the court had issued a temporary injunction to stop construction near Lake Oahe, a reservoir that spans the Dakotas, due to allegations that the construction was destroying sacred lands.
However, the Standing Rock Sioux are also very concerned about the water quality on their lands if the pipeline is built.
The 1,172-mile pipeline would run from the oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois. It’s expected to transport about 470,000 barrels per day of light, sweet crude oil.
If that oil were to leak out of the pipeline, it could go into the Missouri River, which is the primary water source for the tribe. According to Boasberg’s decision, the pipeline does not cross the Standing Rock Sioux’s land, but runs by about a half-mile away.
While that could mean problems for the water supply, the tribe sought the injunction under the National Historic Preservation Act, arguing that places of cultural and religious significance to the tribe would be harmed by construction. The tribe alleged the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t consult them enough when issuing a permit for the pipeline.
Boasberg wrote that the Corps attempted multiple times to engage the tribe about any culturally significant sites. A tribe representative responded to those inquiries by complaining about soil bore testing and asking to be involved further.
A tribe representative backed out of a meeting to survey possible cultural sites and ignored 10 attempts in October 2015 to discuss the site. The tribe also did not attend two November 2015 meetings with tribes from around the Dakotas that showed the results of cultural site surveys.
After the Corps sent out a draft of the pipeline’s environmental assessment, the tribe finally responded that the Corps failed to consult the tribe. The Corps and the tribe met and discussed the site, and found the construction of the pipeline would not impact cultural resources, Boasberg wrote.
“As previously discussed, Lake Oahe is of undeniable importance to the Tribe, and the general area is demonstrably home to important cultural resources,” he wrote.
“Even here, though, the tribe has not met its burden to show that DAPL-related work is likely to cause damage. The Corps and the tribe conducted multiple visits to the area earlier this year in an effort to identify sites that might be harmed by DAPL’s construction.”
Boasberg added, “While the tribe identified several previously undiscovered resources during those visits, these sites are located away from the activity required for the DAPL construction.”
Boasberg added that the pipeline will cross the lake at a depth that is unlikely to affect cultural resources, and any temporary disturbances related to construction would not cause long-term damage because they will be removed.
The Dakota Access Pipeline has gained attention as the latest pipeline fight by many of the same activists who helped to kill the Keystone XL Pipeline. An ongoing protest at the construction site has garnered national attention and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is wanted on vandalism charges after spray painting a bulldozer there earlier this week.
