Federal judge rules the Dakota Access oil pipeline must be shut down pending a safety review in a victory for the Standing Rock tribe who have protested for years
The pipeline was the subject of months of protests, sometimes violent, during its construction near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.
The underground pipeline was built underneath the Missouri River. The tribe draws its water from the river and fears pollution.
The Standing Rock tribe presses litigation against the pipeline even after it began carrying oil from North Dakota across South Dakota and Iowa and to a shipping point in Illinois in June 2017.
Tribal Chairman Mike Faith called it a historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux and for those who have protested against the $3.8billion, 1,172-mile underground pipeline that crosses beneath the Missouri River, just north of the reservation.
The tribe draws its water from the river and fears pollution.
'This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning,' Faith said in a statement.
Jan Hasselman, an attorney for the Standing Rock tribe, tweeted news of Boasberg's ruling and said: 'Stunning.'
Texas-based Energy Transfer, the pipeline owner, has insisted the pipeline would be safe.
It didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about Boasberg’s ruling.
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