Positioned upstream from tribal land, the pipeline will threaten sacred indigenous sites and drinking-water sources, opponents say.
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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. Company officials had previously told HuffPost that work would continue elsewhere on the pipeline.
The group behind the pipeline, called Dakota Access, had planned to start operations in the fourth quarter of this year, but construction has been dogged since April by protests in North Dakota, and some work has been halted. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg listened to arguments and said he’d rule next month.
Unlike the Keystone pipeline protests, which garnered headlines around the world, the Standing Rock protests have largely gone ignored – silenced, in McKibben’s words, as a result of “the endless history of unfairness” experienced by Native Americans.
“It’s a moving gathering to have that many nations up there”, she said.
Six human rights observers from Amnesty International USA visited the Dakota Access opposition Thursday to monitor any police interaction with the public and make sure people’s rights to peacefully protest were being respected, said Tarah Demant, senior director.
After a week free of clashes with law enforcement, protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline say removal of a roadblock leading to their camp is long overdue, and the American Civil Liberties Union is considering legal action if it doesn’t happen.
The tribe is challenging the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to grant permits for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners’ $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline.
They believe the transporting of up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day will imperil local waterways.
The controversy over the 1,100 mile oil pipeline took to our nation’s capital Wednesday.
“It will not be just harmful to my people, but its intent and construction will harm the water in the Missouri River, which is one of the cleanest and safest river tributar [ies] left in the United States”, Archambault said in an August 15 statement.
A section of the Dakota Access Pipeline would run underneath the Missouri River, a federally protected waterway.
Dakota Access did not respond to media inquiries Wednesday or Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the tribe by environmental group Earthjustice, said the project violates several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act. “We continually seek ways to enhance our operations in the areas of environmental and resource protection and conservation”, the company says.
The Iowa Utilities Board earlier this week ordered a halt on construction on those 17 parcels until next Monday to allow time for legal issues to be debated.
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The North Dakota Transportation Department closed Highway 1806 and set up a control point on Highway 6, alleging heavy pedestrian and other traffic related to the resistance.
