Company: ENBSF
Filing Date: 2025-05-09
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0000895728-25-000012
Chunk: 21

Company: ENBRIDGE INC
Filing Date: 2025-05-09
Form: 10-Q
Item: Item 2
Chunk 21
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 the Tribes, the District Court found that the Army Corps' subsequent environmental review completed in August 2018 was also deficient and ordered the Army Corps to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to address unresolved controversy pertaining to potential spill impacts resulting from DAPL. On July 6, 2020, the District Court issued an Order vacating the Army Corps' easement for DAPL and ordering that the pipeline be shut down by August 5, 2020. On that day, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stayed the District Court's July 6 order to shut down and empty the pipeline.

On January 26, 2021, the US Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's decision, holding that the Army Corps is required to prepare an EIS and that the Army Corps' easement for DAPL is vacated. The US Supreme Court subsequently denied the request of Dakota Access, LLC to review the decision that an EIS is required. The US Court of Appeals also determined that, absent an injunction proceeding, the District Court could not order DAPL's operations to cease. While not an issue before, the US Court of Appeals also recognized that the Army Corps could consider whether to allow DAPL to continue to operate in the absence of an easement. The Army Corps earlier indicated that it did not intend to exercise its authority to bar DAPL's continued operation, notwithstanding the absence of an easement.

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On September 8, 2023, the Army Corps issued its draft EIS, which assesses the impacts of DAPL under five alternative scenarios: denying the easement removing the pipeline; denying the easement and leaving the pipeline in place; granting the easement with the prior conditions (which allow for the ongoing operation, maintenance and ultimate removal of the pipeline and its related facilities); granting the easement with some new safety conditions; and rerouting the pipeline. The Army Corps did not identify a preferred alternative. The public comment period that commenced on the issuance of the draft EIS closed on December 13, 2023. The pipeline will remain operational while the environmental review process continues. The final EIS is expected to be issued in 2025.

On October 15, 2024, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed a complaint in the District Court against the Army Corps, among others, seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting the continued operation of DAPL. The main allegations of the complaint are that the Army Corps is unlaw