AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF BOLD ALLIANCE, CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DAKOTA RURAL ACTION, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, HONOR THE EARTH, SAVE OUR ILLINOIS LAND, SIERRA CLUB, AND 350.ORG IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ BRIEF ON VACATUR

The brief supports the vacatur of the easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline, asserting that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers committed a serious violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to prepare a required Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The authors argue that the risk of irreparable environmental harm from oil spills outweighs any economic disruption, especially given a global oil supply glut and the existing negative impacts of Bakken shale oil production on public health and Indigenous communities.

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' failure to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a serious deficiency that undermines the core purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is to ensure informed agency decisionmaking before major federal actions occur.
• Vacatur is the appropriate remedy because allowing the pipeline to operate during remand would reduce the NEPA process to a bureaucratic formality and incentivize the agency to rubber-stamp a new approval rather than conducting a genuine review.
• The potential for irreparable environmental harm from an oil spill in Lake Oahe outweighs the economic harm of halting oil flow, particularly as the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes rely on these waters for drinking, agriculture, and sacred practices.
• Claims that vacatur would cause significant economic disruption are undermined by a global oil supply glut and a substantial decrease in North Dakota oil production, including the shutting-in of approximately 7,500 of the state's 16,000 wells since early March 2020.
• Oil production in the Bakken shale formation causes significant environmental and public health damage, including the emission of hazardous air pollutants, groundwater contamination from fracking wastewater, and a reported increase in sex trafficking of Native women in North Dakota.

APA

Benson, E. F., & Schoenhut, K. (2020). AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF BOLD ALLIANCE, CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DAKOTA RURAL ACTION, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, HONOR THE EARTH, SAVE OUR ILLINOIS LAND, SIERRA CLUB, AND 350.ORG IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ BRIEF ON VACATUR. Earthjustice. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/standing-rock_enviro-amicus.pdf

Chicago

Benson, Elizabeth F., and Karimah Schoenhut. AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF BOLD ALLIANCE, CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DAKOTA RURAL ACTION, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, HONOR THE EARTH, SAVE OUR ILLINOIS LAND, SIERRA CLUB, AND 350.ORG IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ BRIEF ON VACATUR. Earthjustice, 2020. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/standing-rock_enviro-amicus.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Benson |first1=Elizabeth F. |last2=Schoenhut |first2=Karimah |title=AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF BOLD ALLIANCE, CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DAKOTA RURAL ACTION, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, HONOR THE EARTH, SAVE OUR ILLINOIS LAND, SIERRA CLUB, AND 350.ORG IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ BRIEF ON VACATUR |publisher=Earthjustice |date=20 May 2020 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/standing-rock_enviro-amicus.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{benson2020amicus, author = {Benson, Elizabeth F. and Schoenhut, Karimah}, title = {{AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF BOLD ALLIANCE, CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DAKOTA RURAL ACTION, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, HONOR THE EARTH, SAVE OUR ILLINOIS LAND, SIERRA CLUB, AND 350.ORG IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ BRIEF ON VACATUR}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/standing-rock_enviro-amicus.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }