Judge gives Corps 2nd chance to offer Dakota Access pipeline opinion

FARGO – A federal judge faced with a motion on whether the Dakota Access pipeline north of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation should be shut down during an environmental review is giving the Biden administration another chance to weigh in on the issue.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg held a hearing earlier this month to give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers an opportunity to explain whether oil should continue to flow during its study.

The Corps instead told the judge it wasn’t sure if it should be shut down.

Boasberg said in a one sentence order filed late Monday that the Corps has until May 3 to tell him when it expects the environmental review to be completed and give “its position, if it has one,” on whether the pipeline should be shut down.