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Energy Infrastructure Council Expresses Deep Concern over Court Decision to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline

(Washington, DC) Energy Infrastructure Council (EIC) President & CEO Lori Ziebart today issued a statement expressing deep concern over the decision by Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to temporarily shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline pending an environmental review.

Ziebart said the ruling reflected, “Yet another sweeping decision by a single U.S. District Court that upends the stability of our nation’s critical energy value chain, unnecessarily increases costs for American consumers, and endangers our energy security.”

The order to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline – an 1,100-mile pipeline that has been legally and safely operating since May 2017 in full compliance with federal and state permits – upends regulatory certainty for essential infrastructure projects. This decision, along with the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and efforts to vacate the validity of the Nationwide Permit 12 for projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline are symptomatic of the patchwork permitting process that is increasingly used to gridlock the development of necessary and critical large energy infrastructure projects – whether they be renewable or traditional.

Continuing, Ziebart said, “This decision will add more uncertainty to an industry that relies on regulatory certainty for long-term investments. We urge the reversal of this decision as quickly as possible. Our energy independence and national security are at stake.”