WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2018) The US Army Corps of Engineers has notified a US judge that it has concluded its court-ordered environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline and found no new significant concerns, the agency said in memorandum to the court.
"Therefore, the Corps concludes that a formal reconsideration of the July 2016 Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact or the preparation of supplemental National Environmental Policy Act documentation is not required," the Army Corps said in the memorandum on Friday.
Last June, US Federal Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Army Corps' environmental impact statement did not provide an adequate review of an oil spill on tribal lands.
The US District Court for the District of Columbia reached a decision to allow the Dakota Access pipeline to continue operating while the Army Corps of Engineers conducted a further review of the pipeline's environmental impact assessment.
The nearly 1,200-mile pipeline began fully operating on June 1, 2017 to transport domestically produced light crude oil from the US state of North Dakota through the states of South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois.
The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes have disputed the pipeline on the grounds that it affects burial lands and vital water resources in contravention to treaties the United States has signed.
