The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is free to keep flowing Bakken Shale oil while an environmental impact statement (EIS) is completed after a coalition of Native American Tribes failed in the first test for an injunction.

DAPL

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (DC) Judge James Boasberg last year axed a key permit for the pipeline to cross underneath Lake Oahe, which necessitated the EIS. In seeking an injunction, the tribes, led by the Standing Rock Sioux, failed to demonstrate that — among other things — they would likely suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an order closing the pipeline.

“Whether framed in terms of likelihood or imminence, Plaintiffs have not made a successful showing of irreparable harm based on the threat of an oil spill at Lake Oahe,”...