After nearly a year of Obama-instigated protests and calculated bureaucratic obstruction the Dakota Access Pipeline is open and could start pumping oil as early as Monday.

A three judge panel of the DC Circuit turned down a request for an injunction saying that the tribes did not meet the requirements of the law. This, in an of itself, was refreshing as most of the recent high profile court cases have turned on hurt feelings and sandy-panties rather than any adherence to law or even reason.

The Cheyenne tribe is arguing that the flow of oil through the pipeline under Lake Oahe in North Dakota would desecrate water used by the tribe in sacred ceremonies. According to the tribe, the oil represents a black snake prophesied to cause destruction.

The tribe contends that the US Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to grant the easement needed for the privately-built pipeline to go through federal lands violated the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which generally prohibits the government from burdening a person’s religious exercise.

The action by the DC Circuit doesn’t end the legal challenges to the pipeline. The Cheyenne tribe could ask a full sitting of the DC Circuit to reconsider the panel’s decision, or it could take the issue to the US Supreme Court.

There is so much hooey there you don’t even know where to start. There are currently FIVE pipelines carrying oil running underneath that lake. And apparently the concern for the water quality didn’t extend to preventing the environmental disaster these bozos left behind at their campsite.

There will be more challenges but as the oil starts to flow the challenges will be harder and harder to make. This is a win for the good guys.