US federal court to decide fate of Dakota Access Pipeline permit

The $3.8bn pipeline crosses beneath the Missouri River, just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border. The Sioux tribe, which draws its water from the river, says it fears pollution.

A hearing scheduled for Friday is set to determine whether the Dakota Access oil pipeline should be allowed to continue operating without a key permit while the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) conducts an environmental review of the project. US District Judge James Boasberg wants the USACE to explain how it “expects to proceed” without a federal permit granting easement for the $3.8bn pipeline to cross beneath Lake Oahe, a reservoir along the Missouri River that is maintained by the USACE. The hearing in Washington, DC, was originally scheduled for February. But the USACE filed a motion to postpone the hearing in order to allow officials from President Joe Biden’s administration more time to familiarise themselves with the case, including the 2016 lawsuit filed by the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in an attempt to stop construction. The pipeline began operating in 2017 after President Donald Trump took office.