Court upholds order for Dakota Access environmental review

January 27, 2021

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A federal appeals court has upheld a district judge’s decision to order a full environmental impact review of the Dakota Access pipeline, but has declined to shut the line down while the review is completed.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled last year that a more extensive review was necessary than the assessment conducted earlier by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The pipeline crosses beneath the Missouri River, just north of the the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.

The tribe draws its water from the river and fears pollution.