Standing Rock: Victory in Court

The judge has essentially overruled Trump and returned us to this moment when an EIS was required.

A federal judge made a mixed ruling today, though largely in favor of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST), that the permitting process for the Dakota Access Pipeline was flawed.

Earthjustice, whose legal team represented SRST, has issued a press release.

The full 91-page decision by the judge is available online.

The judge will rule next week whether or not the pipeline should be shut down while a proper permitting and review process takes place.

This ruling is in keeping with my analysis of the environmental permitting process. When Trump abandoned the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the old and deeply-flawed Environmental Assessment (EA) became, once again, the permitting document for the pipeline. It concluded with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), while ignoring important tribal issues. The judge apparently felt the same.

For background on the EIS process, and a summary of the Dakota Access EA and its flaws, see this post.

Further analysis of the judge’s decision will be forthcoming on this blog.

About Stephen Carr Hampton

Stephen Carr Hampton is an enrolled citizen of Cherokee Nation, an avid birder since age 7, and a former resource economist for the California Department of Fish & Game, where he worked as a tribal liaison and conducted natural resource damage assessments and oversaw environmental restoration projects after oil spills. He writes most often about Native history and contemporary issues, birds, and climate change.

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