A federal judge ruled that the Dakota Access Pipeline must temporarily shut down to allow a full determination of the risk it poses to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
The judge ruled on Monday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct a thorough environmental impact study on the risk of an oil spill when the pipeline was first approved in 2016. The decision affirmed a previous March ruling by requiring the Corps to redo its environmental impact study and built upon the ruling by mandating that the pipeline be shut down until the study is completed.
The process of completing an environmental impact study can take years, and the pipeline will not be allowed to function until that process is completed and new permits are approved.
“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,” said Chairman Mike Faith of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning.”
The Dakota Access Pipeline was highly controversial when it was first approved. Monthslong protests took place in North Dakota with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe joined by many environmentalists in opposition to the pipeline.
