US Army Corps study says oil should keep flowing through Dakota Access Pipeline
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Friday issued a long-awaited Dakota Access Pipeline environmental impact statement, recommending that the pipeline keep operating but with some new conditions for its Missouri River crossing in North Dakota.
The pipeline has been operating since June 2017, carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has opposed the project and challenged it in court, citing concerns about impacts to the tribe’s Missouri River water supply.
A judge ordered the Army Corps to conduct the study in 2020 after he found the federal government unlawfully had granted an easement allowing the pipeline to pass underneath the Lake Oahe reservoir on the Missouri without taking a full account of the potential environmental impacts. The pipeline has been operating without the easement for the past five years.
The 464-page environmental impact statement evaluated five paths forward for the project. One option would allow the pipeline to continue operating with no changes, while another would add new conditions. Two options involve shutting down the pipeline, either leaving the pipe in the ground or removing it. A fifth option would reroute the pipeline north of Bismarck, requiring more permitting and new construction.
The Corps said its preferred alternative is to grant the easement, allowing the pipeline to keep operating, but with some additional conditions to make the pipeline safer. The Corps said that option protects environmental resources and responds to comments raised by Tribal Nations.
The recommendation is not official until after a 30-day waiting period required under the National Environmental Policy Act. After that period concludes on Jan. 20, the Corps may issue a record of decision.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said in a statement Friday the environmental impact statement “does not remedy” any of its concerns related to the pipeline safety or tribal sovereignty.
“At every turn, our rights and the health and safety of our people and the environment are ignored,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Steve Sitting Bear said in the statement. “We will continue to fight for our homelands and the promises the United States made to our Tribe in Treaty.”
Pipeline developer Energy Transfer has said the pipeline has always complied with regulations. The pipeline crosses at minimum 95 feet below the riverbed of Lake Oahe.
“The Dakota Access Pipeline is built to be one of the safest, most technologically advanced pipelines in the world,” a website affiliated with Energy Transfer, the pipeline’s developer, states.
North Dakota officials have supported the continuing operation of the pipeline. The project transports just under half of the state’s oil production.
“After eight years of operating safely, the Dakota Access Pipeline has become an essential part of our nation’s energy infrastructure,” Governor Kelly Armstrong said in a Friday statement. “Its continued operation will ensure energy security and affordability for the country while providing positive economic impact that touches every North Dakotan.”
Added safeguards
The conditions added to the easement would mostly be the responsibility of pipeline company Dakota Access to implement. The requirements are meant to prevent an oil spill and minimize the impacts of a spill, such as implementing new leak detection technology as it becomes available and conducting groundwater monitoring and surface water sampling. The conditions would require installing groundwater monitoring wells but no other construction.
Another safeguard is requiring Dakota Access to provide an alternate water supply in the event of an oil spill that affects Lake Oahe.
According to the Army Corps’ review, there have been no oil spills from the pipeline underneath Lake Oahe or anywhere else along the main pipeline route. The report states there have been 12 spills at above-ground facilities, but that all were minor and have been addressed.
The study says the Dakota Access Pipeline is less at risk for spills than the average pipeline.
The environmental impact statement included a section on environmental justice, which considered the potential effects of the pipeline on tribal sovereignty and culture, particularly for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
The pipeline crosses underneath Lake Oahe less than a mile north of the Standing Rock Reservation. It passes through unceded land that was recognized as belonging to the Sioux Nation in 19th century treaties with the U.S. government.
Pipeline opponents demonstrated for months in 2016 and 2017 near the pipeline water crossing.
The Army Corps acknowledges that tribal citizens may be disproportionately affected by any negative environmental impacts of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The tribes rely on the health of Lake Oahe and surrounding natural resources for cultural and spiritual reasons, as well as for their water and food supply. Many tribal community members are more than 20 miles away from a grocery store, according to the study.
Under the Corps’ recommended alternative, Dakota Access would need to develop a food distribution plan for communities that rely on Lake Oahe for hunting and fishing, in the event those resources would be affected by an oil spill.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe initially collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the environmental impact statement as a “cooperating agency,” which allowed it to have greater involvement in certain parts of the study. However, the tribe stopped participating in 2022, voicing concerns about the transparency of the pipeline company’s emergency response plans, The Bismarck Tribune reported. Tribal citizens still submitted comments to the Corps.
Standing Rock in its Friday statement again criticized what it called a lack of adequate consultation by the Army Corps, and said the agency continues to withhold important information from the tribe.
The Army Corps held two meetings in Bismarck in November 2023 to collect public comment on the environmental impact statement. At the time, Corps officials said the final statement was expected in 2024.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe launched a new legal challenge to the pipeline in a lawsuit against the Army Corps in 2024. The suit was dismissed by a federal district court judge, who said the tribe could not bring the case until the environmental impact statement was finalized. The tribe has appealed that decision.
The tribe in the lawsuit pointed to evidence of potential lost drilling fluid during the construction of the pipeline. The environmental impact states that no drilling fluid was released at the Lake Oahe crossing during construction.
The study states that shutting down the pipeline would have “permanent, moderate to major adverse impacts on the local economy,” including by reducing tax revenue.
The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota in comments submitted to the federal agency said that shuttering the Dakota Access Pipeline would cost it millions of dollars in revenue. The tribe said it relies on this funding to support public health care, child and senior programs, and public safety, among other services.
“A large amount of oil produced on the Fort Berthold reservation moves on the Dakota Access pipeline,” MHA Chairman Mark Fox said in a statement Friday. “We are pleased that the preferred alternative is to keep the pipeline operating with additional conditions to assure safety and address concerns.”
Dakota Access developer Energy Transfer did not respond Friday to a request seeking comment.
The study notes that President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded climate change and environmental justice-related federal guidance when the Corps was working on finalizing its environmental impact study. The Corps says its analyses of climate change and environmental justice impacts were left in the study “to avoid delay in decision making and the significant time and resources required for document revisions.”
