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RECENT PROJECT UPDATE

USACE Publishes Dakota Access Pipeline Final Environmental Impact Statement

OMAHA, Neb. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Omaha District (USACE) has published the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) evaluating Dakota Access, LLC’s request for an easement under the Mineral Leasing Act for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The pipeline has been in operation since 2017 and crosses beneath the USACE managed federal land at Lake Oahe, North Dakota. Publishing the Final EIS is the last step in the National Environmental Policy Act process before USACE issues a Record of Decision. The Final EIS incorporates and considers comments received from the Tribes, Cooperating Agencies, and the public that were received during the Draft Environmental Impact Statement public review period.

Under Section 28 of the Mineral Leasing Act, federal agencies have the authority to grant an easement for privately owned oil and gas pipelines that cross federal land. The Omaha District prepared the Final EIS to evaluate the Dakota Access, LLC’s request to continue operating the existing Dakota Access Pipeline where it crosses beneath federally managed land at Lake Oahe under this authority.

The release of the Final EIS does not constitute a decision.  Thirty days following the EPA’s Federal Register Notice of the Final EIS filing, USACE may issue a Record of Decision to select an alternative for implementation and other commitments following the waiting period that ends on January 20, 2026. The Record of Decision was signed on May 21, 2026.

View the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision online at:
Volume I DAPL Final EIS Report: 

https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll7/id/28531

Volume II DAPL Final EIS Appendices:

https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll7/id/28532


Record of Decision: https://nwo.usace.army.mil/Portals/23/DAPL-ROD/FLAT_20260520_DAPL_FEIS_ROD_ROUTING.pdf?ver=ELBpDt0kGUaSVLGzFAvOPg%3d%3d 

or

Federal Register
https://www.federalregister.gov/

Point of Contact

Final EIS questions or request for clarification can be emailed to NWO-DAPL-EIS@usace.army.mil or mailed to the address below through the waiting period that will end on January 20, 2026.

Attn: Brent Cossette
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
CENWO-ODT-N
1616 Capitol Avenue
Omaha, NE 68102

DAPL Final Environmental Impact Statement

DAPL and NEPA Information

Project Background

On July 25, 2016, the Corps granted permission to applicant Dakota Access, LLC, under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. 408 (Section 408), for a proposed pipeline crossing under Lake Oahe approximately 0.5 miles upstream of the northern boundary of the Standing Rock Reservation. The approximately 1,172-mile pipeline connects the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil market near Patoka, Illinois.

The Section 408 permission was supported by a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) based on an Environmental Assessment (EA), that was prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This EA/FONSI was completed on July 25, 2016, the date that the Corps granted the Section 408 permission.

On February 8, 2017, the Corps granted an easement, with conditions, to cross federal property administered by the Corps at Lake Oahe, North Dakota. The Corps granted the easement under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA), 30 U.S.C. 185. The easement allowed for the installation, construction, operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and termination of a 30-inch diameter horizontal directional drill buried oil pipeline for the purpose of transporting crude oil, and related facilities, at or under Lake Oahe Project in North Dakota, with a 50-foot-wide right-of-way width plus the ground occupied by the pipeline and related facilities. Operation of the pipeline began on June 1, 2017.

On March 25, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the Corps to prepare an EIS for this portion of the pipeline because the pipeline’s “effects on the quality of the human environment are likely to be highly controversial.” 

Consistent with the Court’s decision, Dakota Access, LLC seeks an easement from the Corps for the original proposed project whose construction was completed on June 1, 2017.  A decision on whether to authorize the pipeline to cross Lake Oahe at the proposed location would be based on: (1) the July 25, 2016, EA/FONSI; (2) the Corps’ August 31, 2018, analysis on remand from a decision by the District Court; and (3) additional analysis developed through this EIS.

Public Scoping under NEPA

The public scoping period the Dakota Access Pipeline Environmental Impact Statement initially occurred from September 26, 2020 to October 26, 2020.  However, an extension was granted and comments were ultimately received until November 26, 2020.

Tribal and Public Meetings

The Omaha District conducted one Tribal meeting on October 13, 2020 and two virtual public meetings on October 15 and 16, 2020. The DEIS was published on September 8, 2023. Two in-person Tribal meetings and two in-person public meetings were held on November 1 and 2 of 2023. In addition to the in-person public meetings, Omaha District held three virtual Tribal meetings on November 8, 2023 and December 6 and 7, 2023.