Dakota Access Pipeline

Dakota Access LLC v. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Cert Petition [Updated with additional cert stage briefs]

September 22, 2021January 6, 2022Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Cert Petition

Questions presented:

Whether, under NEPA, an agency that carefully considers all criticisms of its environmental analysis must also “resolve” those criticisms to the court’s satisfaction to justify a finding of no significant impact; and
Whether procedural error under NEPA per se warrants remand with vacatur.

Lower court materials here.

Update:

Federal BIO

Tribal BIO

Update in Standing Rock/Dakota Access Pipeline

May 24, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the new materials in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. United States Army Corps of Engineers (D.D.C.):

569 Tribe Motion

573 Army Corps Opposition

586 Tribe Reply

607 DCT Order

Prior post here.

D.C. Circuit Affirms Order that DAPL Easement is Illegal, but Does Not Require Shutdown of Pipeline

January 26, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. United States Army Corps of Engineers.

An excerpt:

Lake Oahe, created when the United States Army Corps of Engineers flooded thousands of acres of Sioux lands in the Dakotas by constructing the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River, provides several successor tribes of the Great Sioux Nation with water for drinking, industry, and sacred cultural practices. Passing beneath Lake Oahe’s waters, the Dakota Access Pipeline transports crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Under the Mineral Leasing Act, 30 U.S.C. § 185, the pipeline could not traverse the federally owned land at the Oahe crossing site without an easement from the Corps. The question presented here is whether the Corps
violated the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. § 4321, by issuing that easement without preparing an environmental impact statement despite substantial criticisms from the Tribes and, if so, what should be done about that failure. We agree with the district court that the Corps acted unlawfully, and we affirm the court’s order vacating the easement while the Corps prepares an environmental impact statement. But we reverse the court’s order to the extent it directed that the pipeline be shut down and emptied of oil.

Briefs here.