WASHINGTON, DC - A judge has decided to allow the Dakota Access oil pipeline to continue operating while a study is completed assessing its environmental impact on an American Indian tribe.
The $3.8 billion pipeline built by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners began moving oil from North Dakota to Illinois on June 1.
But U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled later that month that federal officials who permitted the project didn't adequately consider how an oil spill under Lake Oahe in the Dakotas might affect the Standing Rock Sioux. They're one of four tribes challenging the pipeline in court.
Boasberg on Wednesday ruled that the pipeline can continue operating while the additional environmental study he ordered is completed.
ETP and the government had argued against a shutdown.
