Dakota Access pipeline: judge rules environmental survey was inadequate
Source: Associated Press
Dakota Access pipeline: judge rules environmental survey was inadequate
Associated Press
Thursday 15 June 2017 03.03 BST
A federal judge has handed a lifeline to efforts to block the Dakota Access pipeline, ruling Wednesday that the US Army Corps of Engineers did not adequately consider the possible impacts of an oil spill where the pipeline passes under the Missouri River.
US district judge James Boasberg said in a 91-page decision that the corps failed to take into account how a spill might affect “fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial”.
The judge said the army must redo its environmental analysis in certain sections and he would consider later whether the pipeline must halt operations in the meantime. A status conference is scheduled for next week.
Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has led opposition to the pipeline, called it “a significant victory”.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/14/dakota-access-pipeline-environmental-study-inadequate
