Army Corps Of Engineers Has Bizarre Reason For Witholding DAPL Assessment

The Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) has refused to release a study of the potential effects of a leak in the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) using the bizarre argument that releasing the study could “endanger people’s lives and property”. So the reason the ACE will not release information on how a spill could effect people’s lives and property is because releasing that information would possibly effect people’s live and property. You really can’t make this stuff up.

The reporters at MuckRock filed a Freedom of Information Act request back in March regarding the ACE’s environmental assessment of a potential pipeline leak at Lake Oahe which was and is one of the major concerns of the nearby Standing Rock Sioux. The Sioux have maintained that a proper environmental review was never conducted so this piece of information would be highly relevant to their claim. According to other internal ACE memos, there are a number of other documents related to the DAPL that have also not been released to the public and the Native American population effected by the pipeline.

According to Energy Transfer Partners, the builder of the pipeline, there is no real issues at all as any pipeline leak would be quickly detected and halted due to the safety features the company has employed. That sounds at odds with ACE but also totally unbelievable.

The bizarre response of the ACE means that both the citizens in the area of the DAPL have no idea what the effect of a leak might be, but also that the people and property that might be effected by releasing this information also have no idea that they might be in danger somehow. The ACE decision keeps everyone potentially effected in the dark. The obvious answer for a transparent democracy, which is surely in doubt in North Dakota and the US, is to release the information so that the people will be informed and prepared.

MuckRock will, of course, appeal this decision.