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Dakota Access Pipeline

The Latest On: Dakota Access Pipeline

October 11, 2017 | Legal Document

Court Opinion Re Vacatur

In light of the “serious possibility” that the Corps will be able to substantiate its prior conclusions, the Court finds that vacatur is not the appropriate remedy in this case. That determination does not, however, excuse Defendants from giving serious consideration to the errors identified in this Court’s prior Opinion. Compliance with NEPA cannot be reduced to a bureaucratic formality, and the Court expects the Corps not to treat remand as an exercise in
filling out the proper paperwork post hoc. After the agency’s further work on remand, the parties may well disagree over the sufficiency of its conclusion. If and when such a dispute arises, they will again have the opportunity to address whether Defendants have in fact fulfilled their statutory obligations.

August 28, 2017 | Legal Document

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe & Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's Reply Brief Regarding Remedy

The Corps and Dakota Access response briefs sidestep most of the Tribes’ critical arguments at the heart of this motion. Instead, they promote a revisionist reading of the case law that, if accepted, would transform the nearly universal “standard” remedy of vacatur for NEPA violations into one that would be appropriate in only the most unusual situations. Further, they continue to rely on exaggerated and unsupported predictions that vacatur would cause grave economic dislocation, and falsely advance a new theory that vacatur would increase the risk of environmental harm.

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