The Native Americans fear the pipeline will pollute drinking water and hurt sacred sites on their reservation.
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“This is really unsafe down here”, Laney said. Then last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established paths to avoid sacred sites and approved the last set of permits developers needed to build The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe countered with a lawsuit against the agency to challenge the permits.
The company said the pipeline would include safeguards such as leak detection equipment, and workers monitoring the pipeline remotely in Texas could close block valves on it within three minutes if a breach is detected. In the meantime, Archambault has urged President Obama to help, hoping the president and First Lady Michelle Obama’s visit to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 2014 showed them the living conditions people on reservations have to deal with – even without a massive oil pipeline mucking things up.
“I don’t believe this is necessary, and I am asking them if they will remove this barrier”, Archambault said in a brief conference call open to media.
Public Service Commission members defended the Dakota Access pipeline review process during their Wednesday meeting in Bismarck.
“Nobody wants to jeopardize our water resources in this country”, Fedorchak said.
Yet, this project, which has been vetted and reviewed for more than two years by hundreds of landowners, four state governments and the federal government is now being threatened by out-of-state extremists who do not represent the majority of North Dakotans.
“We celebrate the stoppage of construction as a victory”.
“These groups didn’t come to our hearings”, Kalk said.
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North Dakota transportation officials on Wednesday closed a several-mile stretch of Highway 1806 because of the protest along the road. Rather than pursue lawful action, project opponents have taken matters into their own hands by committing acts of destruction, trespassing, and refusing compliance with lawful authorities’ orders meant to keep our communities safe. Total cost of the project is estimated at a cost of $55 million.
