A new report reveals how the Dakota Access Pipeline is breaking the law
The federal government and the Dakota Access Pipelines parent company, Energy Transfer, misled the public, used substandard science, utilized poor technology, and broke the law by not cooperating with impacted Indigenous Nations. Thats according to a new report that also criticizes the Army Corp of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency for not completing a realistic analysis of the environmental damage the pipeline could cause.
The report, written by NDN Collective, an Indigenous nonprofit, provides the first comprehensive timeline of the controversial pipelines legal and environmental violations. Working with a team of engineers, the reports authors included new information about oil quality, spills, leakage, and faulty infrastructure that NDN Collective says could be pivotal in the ongoing battle to stop the pipeline.
The report comes as tribes await the Army Corps of Engineers to complete a new, court-mandated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a section of pipeline under Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River to which tribes have treaty rights. The EIS is expected to be released in September, after which a public comment period will open. NDN Collective, tribes, and other environmental groups are also calling on the Biden administration to shut down the pipeline. Meanwhile, the pipeline remains operational, carrying 750,000 barrels of oil a day.
This report shows how the Army Corps of Engineers violated their own processes, and continues to violate our human rights for the benefit of a destructive, violent, and extractive energy company, said Nick Tilsen, Oglala Lakota and CEO of NDN Collective. We cannot sit on the sidelines with this information. Its time for accountability and its time to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline, once and for all.
https://grist.org/indigenous/a-new-report-reveals-how-the-dakota-access-pipeline-is-breaking-the-law/