What shutdown of Dakota Access Pipeline means for Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental justice

Over the past three years, Native American tribes, indigenous rights groups, and environmental justice organizations have contested the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline runs from North Dakota to Illinois, carrying oil between the two states, and in turn threatening the drinking water of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. After years of protests, United States District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered for the pipeline’s removal.

Tom Perreault, professor and chair of geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, specializes in environmental justice, indigenous politics, and critical resource geography. He says this new ruling is a long-awaited victory for various groups, but there are still ways the Dakota Access pipeline could continue to function despite the monumental ruling.

Perreault says:

“It’s rare that environmentalists and indigenous peoples can score a victory like this in struggles with the oil industry, which almost always has the full weight of the government behind it… However, there are a number of reasons for caution.

“This is only a temporary measure. The finding was that the company did not fully comply with the requirement of environmental impact assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and instead conducted only a shorter and less thorough environmental review. So, the company could do a full environmental impact assessment and then get approval to transport oil to the pipeline.

“While shutting down the pipeline is a positive step, especially for the Standing Rock Sioux whose water is directly threatened by the pipeline and who struggled against it for so long, the larger issue of oil production hasn’t been changed at all.

“Large infrastructure projects like pipelines are long-term, big-money investments and they have a way of resurfacing over and over again. Now that the pipeline was built and in operation for a few years before being shut down, I think it’s very unlikely that it will simply be abandoned. It’s a positive ruling for now, but I fear that ultimately it will be little more than a symbolic victory.”

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Keith Kobland

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