The Dakota Access pipeline would transport crude oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa and into Illinois, CNN reports.
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The tribe says there are burial sites and other culturally significant features in the pipeline’s path.
That lawsuits deals with permits necessary to cross under the Missouri River. Dakota Access will not be mandated to halt work in this historic Lakota territory.
Tribes from more than 20 states have sent letters of support, supplies and representatives to North Dakota to join the protest of the pipeline, including several tribes from the Pacific Northwest.
A spokesperson for the pipeline’s developer told local media the protesters broke through a fence and attacked workers.
The tribe is anxious about the environmental fallout from the construction of the pipeline and potential leaks.
Some of that land was opened to homesteaders in 1915.
Beyond physical boundaries are issues of cultural sites. The tribe’s cultural expert, Tim Mentz Sr., said in court documents that the tribe believes there are human remains in the area and that it wants “an opportunity to rebury our relatives”. On the tribe’s website, you can find press releases about the alleged destruction of burial grounds; resolutions supporting the tribe; a donation link; and other information on the pipeline from the tribe’s perspective.
In a statement posted to Facebook, he said that the tribe is “disappointed” that the judge’s decision will not end the destruction of sacred sites while the tribe awaits a different ruling. If there’s been a lack of consultation, they say, it’s not for lack of trying.
The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes have said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to provide formal consultation with regards to the project.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s request for a temporary stop work order on the Dakota Access Pipeline has been granted by a federal judge.
Joel Ames, Tribal Liaison for the Corps of Engineers Omaha District, wrote in the Corps’ response that he first attempted to consult with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in September of 2014. Tuesday’s ruling did not halt construction for the entire requested 20 acres.
He is expected to decide by Friday whether the injunction requested by the tribe last month would be granted.
“It reminded me of the civil rights movement back in the ’60s”, Rowan said.
“We’re peaceful. We’ve always been peaceful”, Hall said to the Herald.
By April, people had begun to gather at the Cannonball camps.
“The injuries that happened against the security people or protesters, have not been brought to our attention at this point”, he said.
The weekend represented the most violent incident.
The guards say they were targeted and reported to law enforcement that at least two of their dogs were injured by protesters hitting them. Officials say two protesters were secured to heavy equipment. Work on the west may continue.
In order to protect their lands and waters from potential environmental damage inflicted by this pipeline, members of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are resisting this project through ceremony and political activism in North Dakota.
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John Hult is the Reader’s Watchdog reporter for Argus Leader Media.
