Trump Reverses Dakota Access Pipeline Denial, Orders Expedited Approval

Just four days after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum on January 24, 2017, directing the Army Corps of Engineers to expedite approval and review of the Dakota Access Pipeline, reversing the Obama administration’s December 2016 decision to halt construction and conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement. The order instructed the Corps to “review and approve in an expedited manner” the easement needed for the pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe on the Missouri River.

Trump’s intervention raised significant conflict-of-interest concerns: his 2016 federal disclosure forms revealed he owned between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in Energy Transfer Partners (reduced from between $500,000 and $1 million a year earlier), and between $100,000 and $250,000 in Phillips 66, which holds a one-quarter share of Dakota Access. Additionally, Energy Transfer CEO Kelcy Warren had donated $103,000 to Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee.

The executive action exemplifies regulatory capture at the presidential level. Within two weeks of Trump’s order, on February 7, 2017, the Army Corps granted the easement without completing the Environmental Impact Statement, canceling the environmental review process. Energy Transfer Partners immediately resumed construction, and by June 2017, oil was flowing under Lake Oahe—the drinking water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and millions downstream.

The expedited approval process bypassed meaningful tribal consultation and environmental review that federal law requires. A federal District Court later found that the Corps had “failed to adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice,” confirming that the regulatory process prioritized corporate interests over Indigenous rights and environmental protection.