Native Americans from reservations hundreds of miles around have joined the growing protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will pass through Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota, causing the company to temporarily halt construction.
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-The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says it surveyed a portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline route this week and discovered multiple graves and other significant historical sites not previously identified. It’s a project they fear will disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water for thousands of tribal members on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and millions further downstream. The tribe is suing the Army Corps of Engineers in federal court to stop the project, alleging that cultural sites would be harmed by the pipeline.
A United Nations body has criticized the USA government for not properly consulting with Indian tribes on a cross-country pipeline project, saying not involving tribes in the decision violates their human rights.
In the largest act of civil disobedience on the pipeline issue in Iowa to date, 28 everyday Iowans took an arrest blocking the roadways into Dakota Access’s worker staging area outside of Boone.
“We’re just here to keep the peace and safety”, Mr. Elsberry said. However, permits were granted and construction begun without meaningful consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux. Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas company building it, says the pipeline will increase the nation’s energy independence and that it is a safer means of transport than rail.
– It’s been the focus of a major protest in North Dakota and now the opponents of a huge oil pipeline are seeking support in the Twin Cities.
“The peaceful protest of the Dakota Pipeline by tribal people has been met by the incarceration of tribal leaders, blockage of services and inability to access needed services”, Burns-Paiute Council Chair Charlotte Rodrique wrote in the tribe’s letter of support.
The tribe’s actions may be the start of a lengthy, legal fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have said they oppose the project. “And the things that have happened to tribal nations across this nation have been unjust and unfair, and this has come to a point where we can no longer pay the costs for this nation’s well-being”.
Energy Transfer has said the project will create 8,000 to 12,000 jobs during construction and generate about $55 million annually in property taxes for North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and IL.
They appealed to him to reject the project – as he did with the Keystone XL pipeline. A federal judge will rule before September 9 whether construction can be halted on the Dakota Access pipeline.
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Approved by states and federal agencies earlier this year, the Bakken pipeline is scheduled to be the largest oil line coming out of North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields, the country’s most active fields thanks to the fracking boom.
