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NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT NorthAmOil

Court forces shutdown

of Dakota Access Pipeline

A US federal judge has ordered the link to be emptied and shut down,

pending the completion of a new environmental impact statement

DALLAS-BASED Energy Transfer is facing route. Mike Faith, the chairman of the Standing
new legal challenges, as a US federal court has Rock Sioux tribe, called it “a historic day for the
ordered it to empty the Dakota Access Pipeline Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the many people
(DAPL) and suspend crude oil flows pending who have supported us in the fight against the
the completion of an environmental review. pipeline.”
Energy Transfer is an intervenor defendant Faith added: “This pipeline should have
in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. US Army Corps never been built here. We told them that from
of Engineers, a case now being heard before the the beginning.”
US District Court of the District of Columbia. The ruling has also drawn criticism from
That court ruled on July 6 that DAPL could not many industry players. As Mike Sommers,
continue to operate normally while the Army the CEO of the American Petroleum Institute
Corps of Engineers drafted an environmental (API), claimed on July 6, the court’s decision
impact statement (EIS) on the easement that indicates that “our nation’s outdated and convo-
allows a section of the pipeline to pass below the luted permitting rules are opening the door for a
Missouri River at Lake Oahe, which begins in barrage of baseless, activist-led litigation.”
North Dakota. Meanwhile, Alex Pourbaix, the CEO of
This decision will force the pipeline to shut Calgary-based Cenovus Energy, said during a
down for more than a year. The Army Corps Toronto-Dominion Bank conference on July 7
of Engineers has said it will need 13 months to that the court’s stance was likely to discourage
complete the EIS. investment in crucial oil and gas transport infra-
Energy Transfer said in a statement on July structure. “If that would be the new standard, I
6 that it intended to contest the court’s decision. think it’s going to be incredibly difficult for any-
“We intend to immediately file a motion to body to invest in any kind of infrastructure,” he
stay this decision and if not granted, to pursue was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “If there’s an
a stay and expedited appeal with the Court of opportunity to come back on those regulatory
Appeals,” it declared. decisions years after the fact, I think that’s a real
“We believe that the ruling issued this morn- significant problem.” ™
ing ... is not supported by the law or the facts of
the case,” the company added. It also said it was
“confident that once the law and full record are
fully considered, Dakota Access Pipeline will
not be shut down and that oil will continue to
flow.”
On July 7, Energy Transfer followed through
on its statement, filing an emergency request
for reconsideration of the previous day’s ruling.
However, a federal judge denied that request.
DAPL is capable of pumping 570,000 barrels
per day (bpd) of crude from unconventional
fields in the Bakken shale formation along a
1,172-mile (1,886-km) route through North
Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. It
terminates at Patoka, the site of a pipeline hub
where oil can be diverted to routes that serve
other parts of the US market.
The court’s decision represents a victory
for environmental organisations, which have
argued that DAPL poses too many risks. It has
also been hailed by indigenous groups, which
have protested Energy Transfer’s choice of Dakota Access Pipeline/Wikimedia

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