'Huge Victory' for Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as Federal Court Rules DAPL Permits Violated Law
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A federal judge handed down a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota on Wednesday, ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The USACE must complete a full environmental impact study of the pipeline, including full consideration of concerns presented by the Standing Rock Tribe, the judge ruled. The tribe has asked the court to ultimately shut the pipeline down.
The court chastised the USACE for moving ahead with affirming the permits in 2016 and allowing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) crossing the Missouri River after President Donald Trump assumed office in 2017, without considering the expert analysis put forward by the tribe.
The Standing Rock Sioux had raised concerns regarding the likelihood and danger of potential oil spills, DAPL's leak-detection system, and the safety record of Sunoco Logistics, the company behind the pipeline. Sunoco "has experienced 276 incidents resulting in over $53 million in property damage from 2006 to 2016" and has "one of the lowest performing safety records of any operator in the industry," the tribe's experts found.
The federal ruling "validates everything the Tribe has been saying all along about the risk of oil spills to the people of Standing Rock," said Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman in a statement. "The Obama administration had it right when it moved to deny the permits in 2016, and this is the second time the court has ruled that the government ran afoul of environmental laws when it permitted this pipeline. We will continue to see this through until DAPL has finally been shut down."
DAPL and the fight against the pipeline was the subject of international attention in 2016 when thousands of water defenders gathered at camps in North Dakota, facing a highly militarized police force armed with tanks, riot gear, rubber bullets, and other weapons.
Since Trump reversed former President Barack Obama's December 2016 order denying the permits and allowed the construction to be completed in June 2017, the tribe has challenged the permits and demanded the USACE conduct a full environmental analysis.
Wednesday's ruling represented a "huge victory" for the tribe, 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben tweeted.
"Such thanks to all who fight!" he wrote.
"After years of commitment to defending our water and earth, we welcome this news of a significant legal win," said Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith. "It's humbling to see how actions we took four years ago to defend our ancestral homeland continue to inspire national conversations about how our choices ultimately affect this planet. Perhaps in the wake of this court ruling the federal government will begin to catch on, too, starting by actually listening to us when we voice our concerns."
Others on social media celebrated the victory and applauded the "tireless efforts" of the campaigners, with the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America calling the decision the "absolute best possible outcome" of the court battle.
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"After years of commitment to defending our water and earth, we welcome this news of a significant legal win. It's humbling to see how actions we took four years ago to defend our ancestral homeland continue to inspire national conversations about how our choices ultimately affect this planet."
—Mike Faith, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
How long has the environmental impact of the pipeline been studied?
The original EA, since 2006 or maybe a little earlier. The latest one was written in 2016 -
The issue, in my mind, is that there are 12 specific sections in NEPA that REQUIRE any action agency to conduct consultation with tribes on any project that "may" have or has the potential for causing an environmental concern. ACOE did not follow NEPA by conducting any of those consultation requirements.
On page EA-68, the EA states that they "issued letters" to the tribes/nations potentially impacted (70 of them) wanting to know if the tribes/nations "wished" to consult - only the Osage replied.
NEPA's requirement for tribal/nation consultation is that "all means necessary to involve tribes/nations in the consultation process" is NOT done by sending a letter to the tribes/nations. You have to personally reach out and contact them. Hell, the majority of the tribes/nations potentially impacted don't have 24/7 office hours - many of them only have post office boxes that aren't checked on daily.
After reading the EA - piss poor job of following NEPA.
This is a pipeline replacement that is being proposed. Line 3 runs right through the middle of my besties 18 or so acres of heaven, that sits just a few miles south of East Grand Forks MN.
Enbridge showed up at his place 4 years ago to complete an environmental study. They brought along some biology students and equipment from the University of North Dakota to run the assessment (it was some sorta recorder for bat behavior). According to them at that time, the study would be completed a week or two after they picked up the equipment from his yard, which would stay in place and be monitored for about ten days.
Nobody ever collected any data from the device (he was told it didn't transmit, and all data would have to be directly collected form the instrument). Nobody ever came to pick the equipment up; and, when asked about the result of the survey upon calling for info, my buddy was promised an assessment by mail, which he never received. The study has not yet been completed, and he was never given any info about anything that was or was not, found. The equipment went into the burn-barrel.
The entire environmental study thing is a complete pain in the ass of the energy companies, and from what I've seen, not taken seriously at all by them.
Larry - unfortunately, that's how the surveys are being done - "lowest bidder", which usually means farming out to a college/university/institute of higher learning as the worker bees, but with no follow through. When I ran the NEPA for the AF Western Region, our contracts ensured complete follow-up with daily briefings. Ticked a lot of outside contractors off, but the results we received, I could always catalog and pin-point areas of concern within a short time frame or immediately.
Another step in the right direction.....
Great news at a time we could use some.
Whatever happened to Tribal Lands being Sovereign Nations anyway???
Depends - SCOTUS sez they are, Congress sez "maybe/depends".
Good news!
Great news!
Nice! And about time too.
Seems to me this is a bittersweet victory. I'm too far away to track the details. As I recall, the tribal disagreement was more about cultural values than environmental concerns. While using environmental arguments achieves an end, the means only kicks the can down the road.
The country is still avoiding the important questions of value. We are still trying to measure the value of everything in terms of money.
The Trump appointed Supreme Court will have the last say. Trump wants pipelines.
Will his two appointees deny him?
Yup - Gorsch(sp) has worked many tribal issue cases and has ruled in favor of the tribes/nations on all cases where the tribes/nations have standing and legitimacy. This would be one of those cases.
I know - and, as usual, one of the reasons there's not much traffic on the thread.
Darn - what to do, what to do?
Probably point out a section of the article that states that Trump's EO is what caused DAPL and XPL lawsuits that led to this decision by a federal judge.
It's right in the article.
As for Justice Gorsuch, he has a long history of understanding treaty rights and Indian Law which makes him one of the very few current justice's (RBG being the other) that actually understands this portion of the law.
One of his most important decisions, IMO, was the Yakama Tribe vs State of WN.
Yeah - that's the ticket - make it about Trump and everyone will be happy, eh?
I think Kagan and Gorsuch and, quite possibly, Kavenaugh would lean towards the tribes/nations. Beyer, Sotomayer, Alito and quite possibly Ginsberg may go with them.
We'll see.
I didn't make it about Trump, I pointed out what is in the article. It might have led to a more in-depth discussion.
Not much point in commenting at all.
Trump is not the cause of the piss poor environmental impact statement. It was started during the Obama era.
Seems as though you forgot Trump's EO's.
No worries I won't bother commenting again.
Seems like Obama agreed with the tribes, piss poor impact statements and all. Trump overturned the previous Administrations denial with an EO.
So can you make up your mind?
Are you pleased that the DAPL is once again halted?
There's a lot of things I haven't forgotten and there are many things I don't discuss. If the other commenters want to do a bash Trump on this thread - it will be taken down.
The thread is how the courts are handling the legal justifications not handled, in accordance with existing laws, for environmental studies/impacts.
This particular judge has ruled that the ACOE's EIS is/was at fault.
"It's humbling to see how actions we took four years ago to defend our ancestral homeland continue to inspire national conversations about how our choices ultimately affect this planet. Perhaps in the wake of this court ruling the federal government will begin to catch on, too, starting by actually listening to us when we voice our concerns."
That is what consultation with the tribes/nations mean - back and forth conversations with meaningful dialogue.
If Fed judges make a determination that the EIS is in error then, yes, DAPL should be halted.
I'm well aware of the thread and just to point out that I was not the first to bring up Trump.
Start with 7.1.1
As far as a meaningful dialog when is the last time there was a meaningful dialog between the tribes and the government.
The lack of meaningful dialog is the crux of the lawsuit and the ruling by the federal judge.
Absolutely, and that's my point. If the Feds really want something, they "may" have dialogue - but, that's been true with all the administrations and this one is no exception. Obama, Nixon and even LBJ conducted more dialogue with the tribes/nations than any of the other administrations, and Nixon's NEPA/EPA law was one of the great starters. It's just too bad the Feds don't pay attention to their own laws.
I'll agree that the administrations you mentioned did at least try to do the right thing (in their eyes). The Nixon administration was probably the most progressive, but they are not my favorite by any means. I fully remember ''Wounded Knee'' and how it was handled by the Nixon administration. I was a recipient of that ''pissing backward'' by the Nixon administration and spend some hard time because of it.
So my viewpoint is from a ''on the ground'' participant in some of these battles between Natives and the US government.
The ''consultation'' is, IMO, pie in the sky BS.
I have harped about this since I started social media over two decades ago
and enumerated all of the leaks I have endured as a home owner, car owner, RV owner, boat owner and beneficiary of USN steam and nuclear power.
EVERY thing we build including one unfortunate Space Shuttle eventually leaks to the point of local or national disaster.
Full Stop.
Period.
Pipelines are a national embarassment
not to mention all of the "acceptable leakage" on a B-52 or other high altitude aircraft...
"Sure you can trust the government - just ask an Indian."
You beat me to it. Saw this, but had to log onto work at the same time. I believe it to be great victory for the defenders.
Well, nice to read some good news.
A reprieve for now yet I wonder how long will it last.
In the end governments, local, state and federal tend to get the lands they want.
It is also ridiculous to me for them to press forward with the pipeline as I thought I had read that Canada, where this tar is coming from, already found another route.