In yet another loss for the Trump administration and their incompetent attempts to sweep federal regulations under the rug, a federal judge today ruled that the Dakota Access Pipeline must be shut down, and all the oil in it removed, within 30 days. It's a sweeping win, for now, for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others that fought to block the pipeline.
The Obama administration had put the construction of the pipeline on hold until an Environmental Impact Statement could be completed; most specifically, Native tribes whose land was being commandeered for the pipeline cited the danger of contamination of vital water supplies. As part of its nullification of anything the Obama administration ever did, the Trump team quickly approved the pipeline without an Environmental Impact Statement. Can't do that, said the judge. It broke the law, and the Army Corps of Engineers wasn't able to properly substantiate its reasons for not doing so. Until it's done, the now-completed pipeline must remain dry.
This is only the latest in a long, long string of court losses for the Trump administration, all of them caused by the Trump team's own incompetence and unwillingness to follow federal laws. There would be little to prevent the Trump team from approving the pipeline and other projects if they bothered to follow U.S. laws while doing so; instead, Trump's various appointees keep skirting those laws to produce quicker results. In this case, allowing pipeline construction without an appropriate Environmental Impact Statement weighing the risks posed by leaking oil violated the National Environmental Policy Act.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's ruling today determined that those risks outweighed the claimed financial damages to Dakota Access from a temporary shutdown of the pipeline, a risk the pipeline's backers assumed "knowingly" when they pushed forward with construction.
The pipeline will now be forced out of operation until that environmental assessment is completed. That is likely to stretch into 2021, meaning it will be under the jurisdiction, hopefully, of a new and less egregiously incompetent set of administrative leaders.