This is big news. We heard yesterday that the official filing for the “Notice of Intent” was being considered, and today Energy Transfer Partners (the owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline) is in court trying to stop the Environmental Impact Statement investigation from proceeding. Among the things ETP wanted was for the Army Corps of Engineers to not officially publish the document in the Federal Register. We don’t know the outcome of the court hearing yet, but the official publication has happened. This is a significant victory in the struggle to stop the DAPL.

This notice advises the public that the Department of the Army (Army), as lead agency, is gathering information necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) in connection with Dakota Access, LLC's request to grant an easement to cross Lake Oahe, which is on the Missouri River and owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). This notice opens the public scoping phase and invites interested parties to identify potential issues, concerns, and reasonable alternatives that should be considered in an EIS.

There’s a comment period, so let your voice be heard. Deadline is February 20, 2017.

You may mail or hand deliver written comments to Mr. Gib Owen, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, 108 Army Pentagon, Washington, DC 20310-0108. Advance arrangements will need to be made to hand deliver comments. Please include your name, return address, and “NOI Comments, Dakota Access Pipeline Crossing” on the first page of your written comments. Comments may also be submitted via email to Mr. Gib Owen, atgib.a.owen.civ@mail.mil. If emailing comments, please use “NOI Comments, Dakota Access Pipeline Crossing” as the subject of your email.

More from the Federal Register (emphasis added).

The proposed crossing of Lake Oahe by Dakota Access, LLC is approximately 0.5 miles upstream of the northern boundary of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation. The Tribe protests the crossing primarily because it relies on Lake Oahe for water for a variety of purposes, the Tribe's reservation boundaries encompass portions of Lake Oahe downstream from the proposed crossing, and the Tribe retains water, treaty fishing, and hunting rights in the Lake.

Specifically, input is desired on the following three scoping concerns:
(1) Alternative locations for the pipeline crossing the Missouri River;
(2) Potential risks and impacts of an oil spill, and potential impacts to Lake Oahe, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's water intakes, and the Tribe's water, treaty fishing, and hunting rights; and
(3) Information on the extent and location of the Tribe's treaty rights in Lake Oahe.

There is addition information at the link. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/18/2017-00937/notice-o...