Energy Transfer LP, the Texas energy firm now operating the 1,712-mile Dakota Access oil pipeline, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that required the Army Corps of Engineers to prepare a major environmental review for a 1.7-mile segment that crosses under a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.
The 2020 decision by a federal district court in Montana requires the Corps to “convince the court” that the agency's earlier decision not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) was correct. Energy Transfer told the high court in its Sept. 20 petition "that standard shifts power from the agencies to the courts” under the National Environmental Policy Act. The company also said the lower court ruling contradicts previous Supreme Court decisions involving NEPA reviews.