Army Corps to clear path for Dakota pipeline finish
BISMARCK, N.D. — The Army Corps of Engineers said yesterday that it will allow the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline to cross under a Missouri River reservoir in North Dakota, clearing the way for completion of the disputed four-state project.
However, construction could still be delayed because the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has led opposition, said it would fight the latest development in court.
The Corps intends to cancel further environmental study and allow the Lake Oahe crossing as early as today, according to court documents the Justice Department filed that include letters to members of Congress from Army Deputy Assistant Secretary Paul Cramer.
The stretch under Lake Oahe is the final big chunk of work on the 1,200-mile pipeline designed to carry oil from North Dakota through the Dakotas and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois.
Developer Energy Transfer Partners had hoped to have the pipeline operating by the end of 2016, but construction has been stalled while the Army Corps of Engineers and the Dallas-based company battled in court over the crossing.
The Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation is just downstream from the crossing, fears a leak would pollute its drinking water.
The tribe has led protests that drew hundreds and at times thousands of people who dubbed themselves “water protectors” to an encampment near the crossing. ETP says the pipeline is safe.
Details of the tribe’s legal challenge to the Corp’s decision were still being worked out, attorney Jan Hasselman said.