Native American tribes to oppose temporary Dakota Access oil line stay order: lawyers

By Devika Krishna Kumar

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Native American tribes will file a response by next week opposing a U.S. court’s order that allows the Dakota Access oil pipeline to keep flowing, lawyers representing them said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted Dakota Access an administrative stay on Tuesday while it considers whether the line, long opposed by local tribes and environmental activists, should be shut to address permitting issues dating to 2017.

Tuesday’s ruling means Energy Transfer LP can keep oil flowing through the 570,000-barrel-per-day pipeline, which runs from North Dakota’s oil production fields to Midwest and Gulf Coast refineries. This order, however, is meant to be short-term in nature, and attorneys for the tribes are expected to file a response opposing a longer-term emergency stay motion by next week.

A hearing is likely to be held on the week of July 27 or the following, said Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman, who represents the Standing Rock Sioux.

“The administrative stay is anticipated to be short-term in nature, days-weeks, as the court evaluates granting a longer-dated stay throughout the shutdown order’s appeals process,” analysts for Tudor Pickering Holt said in a note on Wednesday.

On July 6, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the line shut and emptied by early August.

The D.C. court ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated federal environmental law by allowing Energy Transfer to build a portion of the line beneath South Dakota’s Lake Oahe, a crucial drinking-water source for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe without a thorough environmental study.

Energy Transfer shares were up 2.6% by 12:25 p.m. ET (1625 GMT).

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)