Pipeline Ruling Bolsters Environmental Standard Trump Erased

A federal court ruling on the Dakota Access pipeline boosts an environmental review standard that could be wielded against all kinds of other projects—if Trump-era regulatory moves don’t get in the way.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last week ruled the federal government should have done an in-depth environmental review for Dakota Access in light of disputes over the oil pipeline’s impacts.

Longtime National Environmental Policy Act regulations require agencies to conduct a broad environmental impact statement, or EIS, when a proposal’s on-the-ground effects are “highly controversial"—meaning, disputed by experts. The ...