On Tuesday, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation chairman Gary Burke wrote a strong letter of support to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who is protesting and opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline that would cross near their reservation and put their resources at risk.
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Thirty opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline were arrested Wednesday while blocking entrances to a pipeline construction site in Boone County.
An offshoot of the Bold Nebraska group that opposed TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, Bold Iowa on Wednesday held a civil disobedience training session prior to what it called an afternoon of “direct action” to oppose the Dakota Access project.
But four prominent labor organizations sent their own letter, this one to North Dakota Governor Jack Dalyrmple, objecting that while the pipeline itself was “lawfully approved”, environmental activists have created unsafe conditions through unlawful protests and civil disobedience.
The $3.8 billion project has faced growing opposition in recent months, particularly in North Dakota, where developers agreed to halt construction near where the Cannonball and Missouri rivers meet as a federal court decision is pending. Protesters “are going to continue to fight this thing”.
The judge over seeing the case, James A. Boasberg of United States District Court, said last week that he will rule no later than September 9 on a request by the Standing Rock Sioux to stop construction and reconsider permits the project has received. By December, Dakota Access plans to have the pipe in the ground.
“We track [Dakota Access Pipeline] and the export dynamics closely”, says Bernadette Johnson, the managing partner at Ponderosa Advisors, an energy advisory firm.
“The place where pipeline will cross on the Cannonball is the place where the Mandan came into the world after the great flood, it is also a place where the Mandan had their Okipa, or Sundance”. We don’t want this pipeline.
The pipeline project in Iowa was approved by the state utilities board, which is made up of three governor’s appointees. “It’s not good for our communities, and it’s not good for our planet”.
Environmental groups say the pipeline, which would travel under the Missouri River, would pose a threat to the environment, public health and to the tribe’s way of life.
“We’ve actually used up all of our other options”. “As far as his other investments, they’re all fully disclosed”.
There were no violent events during the protest, and law enforcement officials at the site expressed pleasure with how the protest unfolded.
“They are tearing through (our property), separating the precious topsoil”, Lamb said.
In the meantime, they go to North Dakota to stand, to protest and protect. They also accuse the pipeline of being unsafe.
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So far, members of the Standing Rock tribe have successfully blocked construction of the pipeline through sheer physical presence, as thousands of Native Americans from close to 100 tribes from around the country are now gathered to support them.
