Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)
( North Dakota Monitor) – A federal judge dismissed the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking to shutter the Dakota Access Pipeline, finding that the tribe must wait until the Army Corps finishes a key environmental study to bring another legal challenge against the agency.
“No matter its frustration with Defendants’ sluggish pace, it is not yet entitled to a second bite at the apple,” U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in a order.
Standing Rock filed the lawsuit in October, arguing that Corps is violating federal law by allowing the pipeline to operate without an easement. The tribe also claimed that the Corps failed to properly study the environmental impacts of the Dakota Access Pipeline or require its developer to prepare adequate spill response plans, among other alleged violations.
The suit is a successor to a lawsuit the tribe filed against the same agency in 2016.
