On Monday, a judge ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline shut down for further environmental review more than three years after the pipeline began pumping oil.
In a 24-page order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., wrote that he was “mindful of the disruption” that shutting down the pipeline would cause, but that it must be done within 30 days. Pipeline owner Energy Transfer plans to ask a court to halt the order and will seek an expedited appeal, spokeswoman Vicki Granado said.
South Dakota is in the heart of the pipeline and South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal said they had policy that supported the pipeline and he is now concerned with halting the operation.
“We felt like (the company that operates the pipeline) had followed the rules and fulfilled all of the requirements of the government to get that built,” VanderWal said in an interview with Brownfield Ag News. “Now a judge has decided that somehow they didn’t.”
“There will be some indirect effects as far as maybe some supply issues as far as transporting that oil to the refineries,” VanderWal said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.