U.S. Army Corps attorneys withdraw from Dakota Access Pipeline case By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A makeshift doll is seen at the gate separating Rosebud camp and Sacred Stone, one of the few remaining camps protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S.

By Valerie Volcovici

(Reuters) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said two federal attorneys representing it in an ongoing legal battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline are withdrawing from the case, according to court filings, as opponents fight for the line’s closure.

The case is being closely watched by native groups and the energy industry, particularly after the Biden administration canceled a permit for the long-gestating Keystone XL project and has taken other steps to limit oil-and-gas exploration.

Jeffrey Clark Sr and Eric Allen Grant, who represented the Army Corps, are withdrawing from the case between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Corps, the filing said.

The tribe is seeking the closure of the Dakota Access pipeline, which can carry roughly 550,000 barrels of oil daily from North Dakota’s shale region to the Midwest.

Clark left the U.S. Justice Department at the end of former President Donald Trump’s term. Divisional heads at the U.S. Department of Justice frequently change hands with the onset of a new administration.

It is unclear whether President Joe Biden, who was sworn in last month, will seek to close the pipeline. A judge in January revoked the line’s permit to operate under Lake Oahe, a water source for the Standing Rock tribe.

Jan Hasselman, an attorney at Earthjustice who represents the tribe, said they hope the Biden administration will seek to close the line, but the departure of these attorneys should not necessarily be seen as a signal of that happening.

A judge for the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia granted the Corps’ request earlier this week to delay a hearing related to permits granted for the line’s operator, Energy Transfer LP (N:), to April.

Clark was the assistant attorney general in charge of the DOJ’s environment and natural resources division. He is currently being investigated by the department’s internal watchdog over whether he made an improper attempt to alter the results of the 2020 election, where Biden defeated Trump.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()
{n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘751110881643258’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);

by : Reuters

Source link

Capital Media

Read Previous

Nvidia’s US$40 billion deal to buy Arm is all but dead – it’s a classic example of geopolitics killing innovation

Read Next

Sanofi’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate not ready this year, CEO says By Reuters