Judge Orders Oil-spill Response Plan for Dakota Access Pipeline

A federal judge on Monday ordered Energy Transfer Partners to coordinate with tribes to create an oil-spill response plan for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline by April 1, 2018.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg came nearly six months after he ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers’ review of the project, which transports oil from North Dakota near Native American reservations to Illinois, was inadequate before it granted necessary federal permits.

The judge also asked Energy Transfer Partners to get input from tribes and get an independent auditor to review easement conditions, regulations for pipeline by April 1 and to submit bi-monthly reports on safety conditions at the Lake Oahe pipeline crossing, the center of months of anti-pipeline protests last year.