Standing Rock Sioux Scores Major Victory in DAPL Battle, Court Orders Legitimate Environmental Plan

Despite the concerns and protests by many Native Americans and environmental activists against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the pipeline has begun operation with oil flowing through it.

But Natives and activists alike are determined to use the law courts to ensure proper procedures are followed in the operation of the pipeline. Although they can’t halt the pipeline anymore, they can at least fight for proper environmental plans and help to avoid the destruction of terrestrial and aquatic species in areas the pipeline passes through.

The Standing Rock Sioux and a group of activists were in court on June 14 to hear the ruling of a case they had filed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who authorized the construction of the controversial pipeline.

The plaintiffs had filed in court that the Corps did not properly do an environmental impact assessment of the pipeline. The U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 mandates the government to study the environmental effects of projects which directly impact the environment, such as the pipeline construction. But because the government is in favor of pipeline construction, many of the environmental consequences were ignored.

This led the federal court in Washington D.C. to rule that the Corps should go back and prepare an adequate risk assessment of the pipeline in order to mitigate any unforeseen circumstances that may arise in the future.

Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Corps woefully failed to perform an adequate study of the pipeline’s environmental consequences when it first approved its construction. In a 91-page decision, the judge cited the Corps’ study of “the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice” as particularly deficient, and he ordered it to prepare a new report on its risks.

Judge Boasberg pointed out that the Standing Rock Sioux are assured certain hunting and fishing rights in their most recent treaty with the U.S. government. Many of the tribe’s members rely on fish and wild animals for their food. Destroying these vital resources would mean hunger for many tribe members.

According to the court, before approving the pipeline, the Corps did not study whether an oil spill along the pipeline would kill most of the river’s fish. It also failed to report on whether the chemicals used to clean up a spill could poison local game, rendering them unfit for human consumption.

This, the court held, would impact negatively on the Natives, therefore, proper assessment should be done in order to trash out these concerns. Legal representatives for the tribe said the ruling was crucial.

“This is a a very significant victory and vindication of the tribe’s opinion,” said Jan Hasselman, the lead attorney for the case and an employee of Earthjustice, an environmental-advocacy group that represented the Standing Rock Sioux.

Although the plaintiffs were also demanding that the pipeline should cease operation, Judge Boasberg didn’t grant that request. He asked attorneys of both litigants to appear again in court for the debate to be heard in the future.

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