Standing Rock disputes new figures by Dakota Access owners

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Attorneys for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota and South Dakota say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unlawfully authorized the Dakota Access pipeline without fully assessing the risks and are asking a judge to shut down the flow of oil while the Corps conducts a second environmental review.

Standing Rock and other tribes filed a response in federal court Friday to a document by owners of the pipeline who said shuttering the pipeline would be a crushing economic blow to several entities, including the state of North Dakota and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.The figures by Dakota Access “rely on unsupported hearsay and exaggeration,” Standing Rock lawyers said.

“The MHA Nation is a sovereign, and is free to change its position, although its assertions about economic impacts carry little weight if unsupported by admissible evidence,” the document by Standing Rock and the other tribes said. “The Tribes have never denied that shutting down the pipeline would have impacts; however, they have emphasized that the profits of others should not come at the expense of the Tribes, especially when the law has not been followed.”

Also Friday, a federal appeals court denied a request from the pipeline to reconsider a panel’s ruling requiring a new environmental review while one of its permits remains revoked. The decision clears the way for U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to rule on whether the pipeline must shut down during the review process.