The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed a new lawsuit on Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to shut down the Dakota Access oil pipeline. This action continues a decadelong legal and environmental battle over the project, which the tribe views as a significant threat to its water supply from a potential rupture.
The lawsuit names the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and three federal officials from those agencies as defendants. The tribe aims to overturn the Army Corps’ May record of decision, which granted a crucial easement for the pipeline’s river crossing upstream of the tribe’s reservation.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Steve Sitting Bear stated, “For ten years, Standing Rock’s concerns about this pipeline have not changed, and for ten years we have fought to protect our water, our Treaty rights, and our people.” He added that the Army Corps moved forward without addressing those concerns, and the tribe will continue its defense until the pipeline is shut down.
The tribe's legal filing also seeks to rescind the federal pipeline safety agency’s approvals of spill response plans. Furthermore, it aims to block the transport of oil through the river section until spill response plans meet federal law. According to court papers, the tribe argues that a spill would threaten the health and welfare of the Standing Rock community.
Among the tribe's concerns are unresolved issues surrounding the safety of the pipeline, the adequacy of spill response, threats to its sole source for drinking water, violations of treaty rights, and the federal government’s obligations. The tribe stated that a final environmental impact statement issued by the Army Corps in December 2025 does not resolve these issues. Concerns also include the pipeline’s potential to increase capacity to 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, which the tribe said would alter operational risks related to spill volume and emergency shutdown.
Chairman Sitting Bear emphasized the tribe’s position, stating, “We should not have to live with unanswered questions about the safety of our water.” The tribe stated in court papers that it files this action to require the defendant agencies to respect the Treaty rights and sovereignty of the Tribe and to protect the waters of the Missouri River and the ancestors resting at the water’s edge.
The Dakota Access Pipeline has been in continuous operation since mid-2017, transporting an average of 500,000 to 525,000 barrels of oil per day from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois. North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad confirmed the pipeline’s operational capacity is 750,000 barrels per day, though the environmental review considered a capacity of up to 1.1 million barrels per day.
The pipeline’s construction sparked major demonstrations in 2016 and 2017, with thousands gathering near the Missouri River crossing to protest the project. In 2020, a federal judge ordered a more rigorous environmental review of the pipeline’s river crossing.
State and industry officials, including pipeline developer Energy Transfer, maintain that the pipeline is safe and represents essential infrastructure for transporting oil from North Dakota, the third-largest oil-producing state in the U.S. Energy Transfer has stated the pipeline is among the safest globally, complies with regulations, and crosses at least 95 feet below the riverbed.
The federal pipeline safety agency declined to comment on the new lawsuit. Officials with the Army Corps and Energy Transfer did not return emails seeking comment on Friday. This new legal action follows a previous federal lawsuit filed by Standing Rock in 2024 against the Army Corps over its environmental review, which was dismissed in 2025, and the tribe subsequently dropped its appeal earlier this year. Other court cases related to the pipeline, including Energy Transfer's lawsuit against Greenpeace organizations and a Dutch lawsuit, remain ongoing. Last month, tribal citizens and council members who participated in the original protests reflected on the decade since the demonstrations at a renewable energy event at Standing Rock.