U.S. judge rules Dakota Access Pipeline be shut down pending review

Washington, July 8 (RHC)-- In a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous and environmental activists, a judge has ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline be shut down and emptied of all oil in the next 30 days, pending an environmental review. 

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had violated environmental law when it granted a permit for the pipeline without an extensive environmental assessment. 

The fight to stop DAPL, led by Indigenous land defenders, catalyzed a major grassroots movement, with the 2016 resistance at Standing Rock watched by millions of people around the world. 

In other pipeline news, the Supreme Court Monday ruled construction on the Keystone XL pipeline must remain on hold while it undergoes further regulation and a lengthy permitting process.  The ruling was a win for environmental and Indigenous activists who have long been fighting the project; however, it was tempered by the justices concurrently clearing the way for a number of other pipelines to move forward under a fast-track permitting process.