Last year, Energy Transfer Partners said they wanted to double the amount of oil it pumps through the Dakota Access Pipeline to 1.1 million barrels of Bakken crude per day.
This morning, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg ordered them to cut the amount of oil shipped via Dakota Access to zero:
A federal judge on Monday ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down pending a more thorough environmental review, handing a victory to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe three years after the pipeline first began carrying oil following months of protests.
In a 24-page order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote that he was “mindful of the disruption” that shutting down the pipeline would cause, but that it must be done within 30 days. The order comes after Boesberg said in April that a more extensive review was necessary than what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had already conducted and that he would consider whether the pipeline would have to be shuttered during the new assessment [Dave Kolpack, “Judge Orders Dakota Access Pipeline Shut Down Pending Review,” AP via Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2020.07.06].
Back in 2016, President Barack Obama acknowledged that the government hadn’t properly reviewed the Dakota Access pipeline and suspended the project. The next guy in charge couldn’t be bothered with law or anything other than his Big Oil buddies’ thirst for black-gold profits and said, go ahead, build your illegal pipeline. So if you hear any pipeliners griping about liberal judges shutting down business, remind them that breaking the law has consequences.
I’m wondering if there is any business in the country that
is safe from judicial review. If stuff like this keeps up
few banks will be willing to finance any project. Just about
any building, any road, any bridge, will disturb some entities
sacred space, sacred land, sacred river. Where does it end?
This is a big _____ing deal for sure. All the pain and suffering that Natives went through to prove their case, was proven in the courts. We must rid ourselves of the filth that has perpetuated our political system from the top going down. This will take some time but that herd must be culled.
July 6, 2020 is a date that will long be remembered by the elders and all who fought the fight to kill this poison snake.
Well, Ed, when no one in the U.S. will lend you $$$, there is always Deutsche Bank. :-)
Mr. A Arndt, you sound as if you’re clueless on how the Constitution works. Please allow me to direct your attention to Article 6, Clause 2. It reads as follows:
“The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States (Article VI, Clause 2), establishes that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the “supreme Law of the Land”, and thus take priority over any conflicting state laws.”
I personally would not do business with a bank who has not done the due diligence regarding the finance of any project and especially one that would tend to violate the United States Constitution. Any person who would bank with such fools is a damn fool.
Problems with sacred lands can be litigated, except one side is too obsessed with profits to have any concern about other culture’s history. Unfortunately, wingnuts have always shown they love the dollars and the hell with any other interests.
Raygun and Bushes were terrible at protecting land and natural resources, but drumpf is the worst of the worst.
Some people are happy about shutdown…
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/monumental-victory-tribes-and-climate-activists-celebrate-court-ordered-shutdown-of-dakota-access-pipeline/
Good for them, even if it is short lived victory.
Mike, your link mentioned the Atlantic Coast pipeline too. They wanted to run that one directly under the Appalachian Trail. One spill, especially in the Great Smoky Mountains, would ruin a lot for a long time.
Edwin, in England when they’re building roads and such, they sometimes hit archeological sites. They have a law on the books to cover the situation. Archeologists have a specific amount of time to investigate and make recommendations for what should be done. Most often they remove artifacts and the work goes on. Sometimes they seem the site too important and reroute around it.
And life goes on. I imagine that would work well in the USA without bringing all commerce to a screeching halt. Don’t you think?
MOAR good pipeline news, this from the SPOTUS….
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/politics/keystone-xl-supreme-court-pipeline/index.html
The Supreme Court on Monday invalidated that lower court ruling in part, allowing many projects to go ahead while the environmental reviews are done, but excluded the Keystone XL. The Keystone XL pipeline must still abide by the arduous environmental review process, the justices ruled.
If lengthy enough, that process could jeopardize the pipeline’s existence, pending the outcome of the 2020 election. Democrat Joe Biden has pledged to rescind the permit for Keystone if he wins.
The targeting of Keystone by the Supreme Court represents the third loss in a week for Trump-supported pipeline projects. In January 2017, President Donald Trump signed executive actions that advanced both Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipelines.
What good is a permit if it can be arbitrarily
rescinded? Who can do business in that kind
of climate? Who will do business in that kind
of climate?
They shouldn’t do business in that kind of climate, simple as that. Do your due diligence and understand what you’re financing. Why would you invest other people’s money in a boondoggle unless you happen to be named trump. It’s not that difficult Mr. Arndt, people all over the world do this day in and day out…unless it’s a con, run by con artists.
In wingnut land a permit is a license to rape, rob and steal. In the real world, a permit ensures the permitee will follow the permit guidelines under threat of losing permit.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/506246-judge-declines-to-reverse-dakota-access-pipeline-shutdown
This judge is a drumpf appointee. Guess who is getting cheap coal in is Christmas stocking?
Is there any info that the permit guidelines were
not followed? It seems to me that the pipeline
companies relied on the corps of engineers for the proper
permit and went ahead with construction. If anyone is at
fault it could be the corps of engineers.
The absolute anti-business attitude by some on this
blog shows a stunning amount of economic illiteracy.
This country did not become an economic powerhouse
by not developing resources.
(Been hauling corn to the ethanol plant so this is a bit late.)
Federal judge rules permits for Dakota Access Pipeline violated law
MARCH 26, 2020 06:15:51 AMTate Brown
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Wednesday that the permits issued for the Dakota Access Pipeline violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The complaint was brought by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as well as other tribes after the “U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded that granting an easement for the crossing would yield no significant environmental impact, thus exempting the agency from having to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement under the requirements of [NEPA].” The court found that “too many questions remain unanswered” regarding the possible environmental impacts of granting the easement.
The court ultimately ordered that the US Army Corps of Engineers prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
JURIST Digital Scholars
When did big business ever follow the rules, especially when wingnuts deregulate everything in sight?
What we need are ethics rules that have teeth and are enforced against pols (the bribees) and business (the bribers).
Businesses could succeed following rules. It is ever more profitable to buy a few congressweasels and write your own ticket to wealth at the expense of everyone else.
Obviously there were the ignoring of the permit guidelines and that is why, by executive order, trump green lighted it…not the Corps of Engineers…
Of course, you can claim that we are anti-business, that is your right, but that don’t make it right.
This country has become what it is today because we don’t make anything anymore. We buy what we need from those who actually make stuff. This is a service country that sells motel rooms and menu services.
Your hauling corn to an ethanol plant is just another idiotic use of wasting food and water on a product that is outdated and unneeded. Ethanol is just another in a long line of bribes to ag producers that makes no sense whatsoever…other than a bribe.
You can look all of that up on the Google regarding the permits and how trump screwed the pooch on this and put it in unlawfully. Well, the law caught up and has shut it down. Why are you whimpering about it?
As the pipe is already in the ground, tribes could use the pipeline, after cleaning to sell water to thirsty cities down south and not to Nestles. Either let the tribes control that water or that will be the end of the water.
“The Former CEO of Nestle claims that water is not a human right and that it should be privatized and controlled.”http://www.defenddemocracy.press/nestle-ceo-water-not-human-right-privatized-2/
There is a helluva lot more money in water than dirty oil. If you don’t believe me, go to a C-Store and buy some water. As these pipelines always leak, if water is in them, then the only harm that could come might be a frog pond and who doesn’t like those for bait. That my friend, is pro-business.
Edwin, get off your slippery slope. It ends when government follows the law and conducts proper reviews. Judge Boasberg did not arbitrarily suspend anything. He read the law, read the evidence, and said the Army Corps didn’t do what it was supposed to and failed to fully protect the public interest.
It’s like speeding. I don’t care big and important you think your business is: if someone delivering your goods and services is speeding, the HP will and should pull that person over, delay the delivery, and write a ticket.
Cory, that’s my point. The pipeline company had the
necessary permits from the corp of engineers that gave
the go ahead for construction. It can be fairly argued
that they did their due diligence because to the best of
their knowledge they had followed the law. It now
appears that anyone who trusts the army corps of engineers
does so at their own peril.
It’s something like posting the speed limit at 80 mph
and then fining people for going over 65 because the
posted speed limit is wrong.
I guess your point is pointless Mr. Arndt
“A federal judge has ruled that the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline must be emptied for now while the Army Corps of Engineers produces an environmental review.
In a decision posted Monday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that it was clear shutting down the pipeline will cause disruption. But he said that “the seriousness of the Corps’ deficiencies outweighs the negative effects of halting the oil flow” during the estimated 13 months it will take to complete the environmental impact statement.” https://www.npr.org/2020/07/06/887593775/court-rules-that-dakota-access-pipeline-must-be-emptied-for-now
It must certainly cannot be argued that they did their due diligence or else they would still be pumping oil.
Still pumping…we are lawless
No, it’s not, Edwin. The current government told ETP to go ahead, drive 80. The courts said, no, under the laws of this land, the government did not have the authority to give ETP that permission. ETP thus has to pull over and quit engaging in that activity until the government does the job it’s supposed to and make sure that ETP can safely engage in that activity.
The fact that the government breaks the law does not give a business carte blanche to continue engaging in illegally permitted, improperly vetted, and possibly dangerous activity.
Perhaps the better analogy is the monster house of McKennan Park. The city government issued a building permit. The permit was issued in error, resulting in a house that did not comply with the law. The court said the permit was invalid. The fact that the owners had spent a lot of money building the house did validate its illegal permit and did not stop the judge from saying the house had to go or be brought into compliance with the law.
The proper response is not to let the illegal house stand or the illegally permitted pipeline continue to pump. The proper response, respecting the rule of law, is to shut down the illegal projects and require that the owners come back and do things right. if the owners have a beef, the proper resolution is for them to sue the government officials (The Army Corps! Trump!) who committed administrative malpractice and cost them money.
What are the chances of successfully bringing suit
against the government? It seems that you are
finally seeing my point, Cory. If a permit from the corps
is worthless, where does a business go to get reliable information.
Um, Edwin? The opponents of the project sued the government. They won.
But we don’t have to go to court to resolve this problem. We can protect businesses (and I’m humoring Edwin here, because the law is already coddles business too much) by writing into permits statements that, if a court finds the government erred in issuing the permit, the government shall be liable for economic damages to the company. Such statements would make agencies extra careful about doing their due diligence and not issuing hasty permits the way Trump and the Army Corps did in this situation.
Same story in the Black Hawk State Cement Plant gypsum mine buried over, sold, permitted, developed, financed, title insured (on stolen Indian land of course). Lots of deep pockets. And Congress could fix it all in a day.
Lakota Heather Thompson Esq. recently exposed that since the 50s the elders complained that west Rapid City wanted to develop, but that Indian Boarding School/Sioux San land reverted to the tribes…so Rapid City lobbied Congress to CHANGE THE TITLE TO TO LAND…to the City.
Lets see: 1200 acres of urban land is worth how much? And how much are the Black Hills worth to the Indian owners? The gold extracted is worth nearly $100 Billion. Then there is the land itself, mostly Federal. SCOTUS said in 1980, $17 Million or something. Think Roe v. Wade can’t be reversed? How about the Black Hills land claim?
Or Congress can change it in a day.
Mr Arndt, if you’er looking for a boogeyman to blame for shutting down KXL and DAPL., look no further than drumpf and his moronic bureaucrats….
https://slate.com/technology/2020/07/pipeline-setback-trump-administration.html
Good idea Corey, I’m for that.
Edwin, kindly see my comment on Dakota Standard above.
Ms. leslie, regardless of all your incorrect “facts”, I would remind you that mineral rights are often severed from land rights. grudznick knows about such things, so you might exercise some caution as you bubble your response up through the morass of your mind. But please, you have my permission to dig in deeper (no pun intended.)
Republican hates Democrat. I get it.
Surface buddy. Bahaha
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/507425-dakota-access-pipeline-shutdown-temporarily-halted
DC Court of Appeals gives ETP moar time to do whatever they do before shutting down.
Interesting that 2 of the three judges were appointed by Clinton and Obama. Not surprising, just interesting.
Other alleged Oil Companies are handing out huge bonuses to execs before filing bankruptcy protection. They also, allegedly, failed to set aside environmental damage funds as they were ordered to.