The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has released a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for Energy Transfer's Dakota Access oil pipeline, but a final decision on the river crossing near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota is pending further input. This EIS evaluated five alternatives, including abandoning or rerouting the pipeline, but did not make a recommendation. This draft comes over three years after a federal judge ordered the environmental review and cancelled the permit for Missouri River crossing due to concerns about potential water contamination from an oil spill.
The 1,172-mile (1,886-km) Dakota Access Pipeline, which is operating since June 2017, can transport up to 750,000 bbl/d from the Bakken/Three Forks production area in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. In 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit confirmed the March 2020 federal ruling that the government hadn’t adequately studied the pipeline’s impact on the environment, ordering the USACE to conduct a new environmental review. In February 2022, the US Supreme Court concurred with this decision. Despite these legal rulings, the pipeline remains fully operational today.