Department of the Army Takes the Lead on Dakota Access Pipeline
Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline faced law enforcement in North Dakota on January 16, 2017. Fourteen arrests were reported. Photo: Irina Lukban
It's official -- the Department of the Army has opened a new environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The wealthy backers of the controversial project made a last-minute attempt to block a critical notice from appearing in the Federal Register. But after a judge declined to take action late Tuesday afternoon, the document was officially published on Wednesday.
"This notice advises the public that the Department of the Army (Army), as lead agency, is gathering information necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) in connection with Dakota Access, LLC's request to grant an easement to cross Lake Oahe, which is on the Missouri River and owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)," the document states. "This notice opens the public scoping phase and invites interested parties to identify potential issues, concerns, and reasonable alternatives that should be considered in an EIS."
The publication fulfills a long-standing request by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its many allies to review issues that were never fully considered before Dakota Access started building the 1,172-mile pipeline. Even though the firm lacked approval to cross Lake Oahe, construction crews kept working in an area just north of the reservation despite concerns about sacred sites, burial grounds and water resources.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, an agency of the Army, appeared poised to approve the crossing over the tribe's objections, going so far as to announce an "final" environmental assessment last July. The firm remained confident of success even as thousands flocked to North Dakota to support the #NoDAPL movement.
But after the Obama administration stepped in with an extraordinary statement about the controversy in early September and President Barack Obama himself suggested that alternate routes for the pipeline should be considered, the Army Corps was effectively removed as the "lead" agency, as confirmed in the notice published in the Federal Register.
That means the process going forward will be handled by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, rather than the Army Corps. That's a departure from typical practice -- the Army Corps almost always is in charge of environmental impact statements for projects affecting land under its jurisdiction.
The Army, in contrast, usually only handles an EIS for projects at military bases.
Now that the notice has been published, comments about the Dakota Access EIS must be submitted to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works by February 20. Public meetings in North Dakota are expected as well.
"The range of issues, alternatives, and potential impacts may be expanded based on comments received in response to this notice and at public scoping meetings," the notice reads.
Even though the notice has officially been published, the legal team for Dakota Access pushed for a hearing on the matter anyway. It takes place in Courtroom 19 of the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon.