A weekend confrontation between protesters and construction workers near Lake Oahe prompted the tribe to ask Sunday for a temporary stop of construction, which a judge partially granted Tuesday.
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Tomas Alejo, who participated in Saturday’s demonstrations, said in an interview that the security officers had formed a “barricade” with guard dogs to prevent protesters from accessing the bulldozers, and that the dogs bit children and tribal elders.
A Dakota Access attorney says if there weren’t disturbances on the section of the oil pipeline that was part of a federal judge’s decision, it would be completed by the end of the week.
“We can’t be there to support them but we’re here to support them in prayer and in strength”, said organizer Robert Louis.
“I’m not here for a photo op”, Stein said.
“Part of it’s good but it’s not all good because I know our sacred sites are going to be destroyed”, he said.
The Dakota Access pipeline would transport crude oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa and into Illinois, CNN reports.
The Herald said the protesters asked Stein questions. The suit says the project violates several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, will harm water supplies on the reservation and downstream and disturb ancient sacred sites.
Leone also said in court that there were two more attacks on crews in North Dakota on Tuesday.
Kingi Snelgar has just graduated from Harvard University and was working as a judge’s clerk in the U.S. state of South Dakota when he heard that members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe needed legal assistance in their fight against an oil pipeline. The judge denied a temporary restraining order to halt construction west of North Dakota Highway 1806.
Energy Transfer said the pipeline would bring an estimated $156 million in sales and income taxes to state and local governments.
Court documents show the company also denies accelerating its construction schedule.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe claims that it was not properly consulted before the project was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
North Dakota Department of Emergency Services Director Al Dohrmann called Tuesday’s protest “a major setback” in ongoing negotiations between state officials and members of Standing Rock and the protest camp near Cannon Ball.
Protests against the pipeline turned violent in North Dakota over the weekend, with some demonstrators breaking down a wire fence and trespassing onto a construction site, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said. Court documents filed Monday say the Corps “acknowledges that the public interest would be served by preserving peace near Lake Oahe”.
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Energy Transfer which is the company in charge of the pipeline construction hired the security team. A decision on the case is expected this week. Get twice-daily updates on what the St. Louis business community is talking about.
