Appellate court halts Dakota Access pipeline shutdown order for review

A federal appeals court July 14 temporarily blocked a shutdown order issued for the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the administrative stay to give the court more time to consider an emergency motion for a longer stay, one that might remain in place until the case is resolved.

The appellate court gave parties in the case a deadline of July 20 for filing arguments against the stay and July 23 for filing replies to those arguments.

The pipeline, operated by Energy Transfer LP, carries 570,000 b/d of crude oil more than 1,000 miles from North Dakota to a pipeline hub at Patoka, Ill. Connections there allow the oil to flow as far as the Gulf Coast.

Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered July 6 that the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline must be shut down and emptied of oil by Aug. 5 pending completion of a study of the line’s potential environmental impacts. The line has been in operation for 3 years (OGJ Online, July 6, 2020).

The US Army Corps of Engineers has told the court it can complete an environmental impact statement on the pipeline—specifically on an easement allowing the line to pass under the Missouri River in North Dakota—in 13 months.

The case is Standing Rock v. US Army Corps of Engineers. While the Corps of Engineers is the primary defendant, Energy Transfer is an intervenor defendant.