Presidential Miscues On The Dakota Access Pipeline

Right now a major energy and environmental fiasco is playing out over the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This 1172-mile pipeline, when completed, will move 470,000 barrels of oil per day from the production fields in the Bakken and Three Forks regions of North Dakota to refineries and terminals located in Patoka, Ill.

Originally, the case was a legal dispute which pitted the company building the pipeline and the Army Corps of Engineers against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST) over the narrow, but important, legal question of whether the Army Corps and Dakota Access had complied with the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which required them to consult with the tribes before a permit could be issued.

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Podcast: Richard Epstein Probes Legal Arguments in Dakota Access Pipeline Debate

Professor Richard Epstein discusses the legal and policy arguments surrounding the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s challenge to the Dakota Access Pipeline in a newly released podcast.

Epstein, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and NYU law professor, has closely followed the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s legal challenge to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

  • Forbes Magazine, 10/3/16, “Finish Construction On Dakota Access Now,” by Richard Epstein
  • Forbes Magazine, 9/14/16, “Why The DOJ Order To Shut Down Construction On The DAPL Pipeline Is Legally Indefensible,” by Richard Epstein

Over the past few months he has offered a number of popular reviews on the court proceedings, including the two above columns that appeared in Forbes Magazine.