US approves Dakota Access easement nearly a decade after pipeline started pushing oil

WASHINGTON — An easement for a controversial pipeline that crosses the Missouri River near tribal land in North Dakota has been approved nearly a decade after it started transporting oil.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday, May 21, authorized a final environmental impact statement for the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to a news release. The decision approves an easement for the 1,172-mile pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum called the decision a “major win for American energy security and the rule of law.” He praised President Donald Trump and the Army Corps.

“After years of delays and political obstruction from the Biden administration, the Dakota Access Pipeline can finally move forward with certainty,” Burgum said. “This decision supports American jobs, strengthens energy independence, and reaffirms this administration’s commitment to building the infrastructure our country depends on.”

The pipeline, operated by an Energy Transfer subsidiary, transports more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day from the Bakken in northwest North Dakota to an Illinois oil terminal. Dakota Access crosses under the Missouri River about a half-mile north of the Standing Rock Reservation in central North Dakota.

The pipeline sparked protests in 2016 through early 2017 over concerns that a leak would pollute the tribe’s water supply. Dakota Access started transporting oil in June 2017.

Burgum was elected governor of North Dakota in late 2016 and ordered protesters to vacate their camp on federal land.

Forum file photo

In 2020, a federal judge canceled the Dakota Access easement pending a more thorough environmental review. He also ordered the pipeline to be shut down.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. overturned the shutdown but upheld the environmental study order.

The pipeline continued to operate as the Army Corps reviewed the environmental study. In Thursday’s decision to fulfill the court ruling, the Army Corps said it picked an easement route that “best balances public safety, protection of environmental resources, and leak detection and response considerations while meeting the project’s purpose and need.”

The decision puts “years of delays to rest,” Army for Civil Works Assistant Secretary Adam Telle said in a statement.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are delivering the clear, consistent regulatory decisions required to provide certainty to the American economy and advance President Trump’s American energy dominance agenda, while protecting our natural resources,” he said.

The decision doesn’t allow new construction for the pipeline, the Army Corps said in its statement.

“We are so pleased with today’s announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers on the issuance of the Record of Decision for the Dakota Access Pipeline’s crossing of Lake Oahe,” said Vicki Granado, Energy Transfer vice president of corporate communications. “The Dakota Access pipeline has been safely operating for nearly 10 years and is a critical piece of our country’s energy infrastructure.”

North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the easement reinstatement “good news,” saying it lifts “the cloud of uncertainty from over this essential piece of American infrastructure.”

“The pipeline’s continued operation will help keep energy affordable and our nation secure while benefiting North Dakota’s economy, our citizens and our communities across the state,” he said.

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the decision puts “the regulatory uncertainty surrounding this critical energy infrastructure to rest” and gives “long-term certainty to our state’s oil and gas industry.”

Gaining the easement was a “very lengthy, litigious episode,” U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said in a statement.

“It highlights how extremists, these activists, in some cases these paid activists, their activist judges, a bad administration — how complicit all of that is in hijacking our regulatory system, which is fraught with objections and obstructions,” Cramer said. “As we face this growing energy demand for a growing economy, we have to pass some permitting reform that prevents this bureaucratic abuse and gives infrastructure investment projects certainty.”