On 9 October, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals allowed construction to resume on a small stretch of the Dakota Access oil pipeline while it considers an appeal by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who have been long protesting the pipeline.
This ruling allows Energy Transfer Partners to move ahead with construction of the pipeline on all privately owned land up to the Missouri River.
The pipeline has undoubtedly been controversial due to the objections raised by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Their primary argument is that the pipeline will cross a key water source and lands that are culturally important and sacred. The Tribe had asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to continue work stoppage on the pipeline within 20 miles of Lake Oahe, North Dakota.
As a result, the court ordered work to stop while it considered the motion. However, this recent ruling removed the temporary injunction that had halted work on the project.
Although work may resume, three federal agencies – Interior, Justice and Army –ordered that construction was stopped on land next to and underneath Lake Oahe that is owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers while it reviews its permitting decisions.
Moreover, The court is still yet to decide on the tribe's appeal of a ruling made by US District Judge James Boasberg in September. Boasberg declined to shut down work on the entire pipeline, stating that the Sioux had not demonstrated that an injunction was warranted.
According to NBC News, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has stated that it will keep fighting the controversial Dakota Access pipeline after this federal court rejection of its request to halt construction on the project.
Energy Transfer Partners’ US$3.8 billion pipeline would cross approximately 1172 miles and would carry nearly a 500 000 bpd of crude oil from North Dakota's oil fields, across South Dakota and Iowa, to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois. From here, shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.