Corps of Engineers Says Standing Rock Can’t Sue Over Pipeline Inaction

Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline gather Nov. 1, 2023, in Bismarck. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

(Mary Steurer – North Dakota Monitor) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s latest lawsuit over the Dakota Access Pipeline should be tossed, arguing the tribe can’t sue the agency over a permit that hasn’t been granted yet.

The lawsuit, filed in October, accuses the Army Corps of unlawfully allowing the Dakota Access Pipeline to operate without an easement, a complete environmental assessment or sufficient emergency spill response plans. The tribe wants a federal judge to shut the pipeline down.

The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over a part of the pipeline that passes below a reservoir on the Missouri River less than a half-mile upstream from the Standing Rock Reservation.

The agency for the past several years has been working on an environmental impact statement that, once finalized, will inform whether or not the Corps will grant the easement for that segment of the pipeline.

Standing Rock has opposed the pipeline for years, saying it infringes upon the tribe’s sovereignty, has damaged sacred cultural sites and will pollute the tribe’s water supply.