BISMARCK, N.D. — The Army Corps of Engineers and the developer of the Dakota Access pipeline must complete an oil-spill response plan for the stretch of pipe beneath the Missouri River in North Dakota, a federal judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s order grants a request by the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes for additional measures to protect the river’s Lake Oahe reservoir. The tribes draw drinking water from the lake.
Completion of a response plan and additional are warranted while the Corps determines the pipeline’s impact on the tribes, the judge said in his ruling. He cited in part the spill of 210,000 gallons of oil from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota last month.