This judge's reason for allowing the Dakota Access pipeline to go forward is stunningly absurd

On Monday, Washington, DC district Judge James Boasberg rejected a request to halt the recently re-started construction of the Dakota Access Oil pipeline in North Dakota.

Why? Because, as Judge Boasberg reportedly explained, the pipeline isn’t actually a problem—oil is.

Yes, according to the Associated Press, Boasberg told the two native tribes who had filed the motion that because there was no crude actively flowing through it, the pipeline didn’t actually pose an immediate environmental risk. In other words, he essentially ruled that since only the finished, functional pipeline would threaten North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux tribe, for the time being, there’s no reason to stop the construction progress that would make the pipeline, y’know, finished and functional.

Judge Boasberg did agree to hear further arguments toward the end of the month. In the meantime, though, court is out of session. So is basic logic.