The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday released a long-anticipated Environmental Impact Statement for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), recommending that operations of the oil pipeline continue with some conditions.
The EIS, a document required by U.S. law to evaluate the environmental effects of major federal actions, is a win for DAPL operator Energy Transfer and a step closer to the end of a lengthy court battle between the company and nearby Native American tribes, who have been fighting for the pipeline’s closure.
The document recommends the continued operation of DAPL, on the grounds that safeguards are put in place such as groundwater monitoring, fish tissue residue analyses and water and sediment sampling, as well as the deployment of new leak detection technology.
A U.S. court in 2022 ordered the federal government to undertake a more intensive EIS of the 1,100-mile (1,800-km) crude pipeline’s route as part of the dispute between Energy Transfer and the tribes who have cited risks to water quality as the pipeline runs through Lake Oahe, with the crossing around half a mile north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
The pipeline has continued to operate while the review is being carried out. It is the biggest oil pipeline from the Bakken shale oil basin and can transport up to 750,000 barrels of oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois.
It is not known whether USACE’s recommendation will be implemented.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Paul Simao)