Big win for Standing Rock tribe

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled last week that the permits issued for the Dakota Access Pipeline violated the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa). A Jurist report notes that the complaint was brought by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as well as other tribes after the ‘US Army Corps of Engineers concluded that granting an easement for the crossing would yield no significant environmental impact, thus exempting the agency from having to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement under the requirements of Nepa’. The court found that ‘too many questions remain unanswered’ regarding the possible environmental impacts of granting the easement. The court ultimately ordered that the US Army Corps of Engineers prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.