WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2020) The Trump administration will redouble its efforts to protect the US energy industry following the "disappointing" decision of a US Federal court to order the shutdown of the Dakota Access pipeline, US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette in a statement on Monday
Earlier in the day, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Dakota Access pipeline must shut down by August 5 pending additional environmental review.
"It is disappointing that, once again, an energy infrastructure project that provides thousands of jobs and millions of Dollars in economic revenue has been shut down by the well-funded environmental lobby, using our Nation's court system to further their agenda," Brouillette said in the statement.
Brouillette added that environmental lobbying firms continue to litigate their way into controlling and shuttering US economic growth, adding that the Trump administration would continue fighting for the expansion of American energy infrastructure.
The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes had taken the US Army Corps of Engineers and the pipeline's parent company Energy Transfer Partners to court for constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline to pass through their sacred land and threaten vital water resources.
The $3.7 billion pipeline was subject to continual protests from 2016 to 2017, which resulted in law enforcement using force against protesters in order to allow construction of the pipeline to be completed.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is used to move some 570,000 barrels of oil per day from North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
