A loss for two Indian tribes still fighting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, the one that saw thousands of protesters encamped last year around the line.
Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg ruled this week against the tribes’ request to be consulted more on an oil spill response plan at the pipeline. He said the issue was mooted by the plan’s submission.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe had claimed they were not consulted enough over the response plan of Dakota Access LLC.
In March, representatives of the tribes protested in Washington and claimed their requests for technical information about oil spills in Lake Oahe in North Dakota were being “stonewalled.”
A legal filing by the tribes claimed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had failed to “meaningfully engage with the tribe, listen to its legitimate concerns about the siting of the pipeline at Oahe, and make a reasoned decision in light of that information.”
