Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights

Violation

Dakota Access Pipeline and Lake Oahe (2016-2026): context, not an adjudicated treaty violation

Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.

The Dakota Access Pipeline crosses Lake Oahe near Standing Rock; courts ruled on environmental review, not on the 1868 treaty.

Treaty
Treaties of Fort Laramie (1851, 1868) invoked by the Tribe
Nations
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (and allied Oceti Sakowin nations)
When
2016-2026
Land affected
(No land taking; the dispute is about the pipeline crossing near the reservation, the 1958 Oahe taking context, and consultation.)
Acreage
n/a
Legal aftermath
Pipeline operating; easement authorized in 2026 on conditions. Include in the atlas as 'modern conflict', not as a catalogued treaty breach.

What happened

This is context, not a court-decided treaty violation. The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie set up the Great Sioux Reservation "for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation" of the Sioux, according to the treaty text. Harvard's Environmental and Energy Law Program (EELP) notes that the reservation's boundaries include significant portions of where the Dakota Access Pipeline now runs, and that the pipeline runs within a half-mile of the Standing Rock Reservation through land Congress took from the Tribe in 1958.

The Army Corps of Engineers controls only 37 miles of the 1,100-mile pipeline, where it crosses federal lands and waters. The Corps denied an easement for the Lake Oahe crossing on December 4, 2016, pending further review, and approved it on February 8, 2017, after a presidential memorandum directing an expedited review. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sued. In 2020 a federal court ordered a full environmental impact statement and vacated the easement. In January 2021 the D.C. Circuit held that the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by issuing the easement without that statement but reversed the shutdown order.

The Corps released the final environmental impact statement on December 19, 2025 and signed a Record of Decision on May 21, 2026 selecting Alternative 4, an easement with added conditions. The Tribe's challenge to the pipeline's ongoing operation was voluntarily dismissed on June 23, 2026. The pipeline continues to operate. The court rulings in this dispute concerned NEPA (environmental review), not treaty claims.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. The Corps selected Alternative 4, which grants an easement with additional conditions to Dakota Access, LLCDakota Access Pipeline (Regulatory Tracker, Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program)
  2. violated NEPA by issuing an easement for the pipeline to cross federal lands without preparing an environmental impact statementDakota Access Pipeline (Regulatory Tracker, Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program), Jan. 26, 2021 entry
  3. set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein namedFort Laramie Treaty, 1868 (Avalon Project, Yale Law School)

Research notes. CONTEXT ENTRY, not an adjudicated violation: the tracker I read records NEPA rulings only; I found no ruling deciding a treaty claim. Verified from EELP: Dec. 4, 2016 denial, Jan. 24, 2017 memorandum, Feb. 8, 2017 approval, Mar. 25 and July 6, 2020 rulings, Jan. 26, 2021 D.C. Circuit, final EIS Dec. 19, 2025, ROD May 21, 2026 (Alternative 4), voluntary dismissal June 23, 2026 (motion June 14). Also verified: cert. denied Feb. 22, 2022. Not verified: the input's July 26, 2016 easement date and the judge's name; I left them out. The 1958 Oahe taking is described by EELP as 'land taken from the Tribe by Congress in 1958'; see V029. The pipeline route and cultural sites are described only as EELP states; I locate none. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's own statements were not opened (North Dakota Monitor returned 403).

Treaty or agreementTreaty under documented pressureShapes from the 1899 federal record: approximate, not legal boundaries.

Who is doing the work

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Land return and Native-led work nearby

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Connections

These links were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.

Nations named 2

Concerns the instrument 2

Located in 1

Policy era 1

Sources

  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Rock_Sioux_Tribepointer
  2. eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/dakota-access-pipeline/reference work
The record’s fields
What happened
Dakota Access Pipeline and Lake Oahe (2016-2026): context, not an adjudicated treaty violation -- The Army Corps approved easements for the Lake Oahe crossing on July 26, 2016; construction near Oahe was halted Sept. 9 and the easement denied Dec. 4, 2016; a Jan. 24, 2017 presidential memorandum led to approval Feb. 8, 2017. Courts decided the matter on NEPA grounds: D.D.C. ordered a full EIS (Mar. 25, 2020) and vacated the easement (July 6, 2020); the D.C. Circuit affirmed that the Corps violated NEPA but reversed the shutdown order (Jan. 26, 2021); certiorari denied Feb. 22, 2022. The Corps issued a final EIS Dec. 19, 2025 and a Record of Decision May 21, 2026 selecting Alternative 4 (easement with added conditions). The Tribe voluntarily dismissed a related challenge; dismissal June 23, 2026. Treaty-based claims were part of the Tribe's public case, but the controlling rulings summarized in the tracker concern NEPA.
Kind
Violation
Confidence
Medium
Nation review
Not yet reviewed by this nation
Notes
  • Context record, not a treaty
  • Some details not yet checked against a source

Correct this record