After violent clashes over the weekend between protesters and security officers near the construction site, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and a neighboring Native American tribe had asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sunday for a temporary restraining order against Dakota Access, the company building the pipeline.
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In response to a motion filed by tribal groups over the weekend, a federal judge this week said construction on part of the Dakota Access pipeline must stop until the end of the week.
The $3.8 billion pipeline is set to pump oil along a 1,100-mile stretch between North Dakota and IL. That motion is based on the tribes’ claim that it was not properly consulted before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the pipeline project, which would run from North Dakota to IL.
The judge has yet to rule on the earlier motion.
They say the planned pipeline, near but not on tribal land, runs through a sacred burial ground and could leak, polluting nearby rivers and poisoning the tribe’s water source.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe won a small victory in its attempt to stop an oil pipeline from being built near its land.
Protest of the almost $4 million dollar oil pipeline turned violent Saturday when members of a Native American tribe Standing Rock Sioux and private security forces clashed as construction crews began work on the project in Morton County, N.D.
Standing Rock’s Sioux tribe has organized opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline ever since the project first became public two years ago.
Speaking to Democracy Now! on Tuesday, Hasselman reiterated how important these ancient burial sites are to the Standing Rock Sioux and the “shock and anguish” felt by the tribes when it was clear that Energy Transfer Partners took the newly filed information about the archaeological sites and “12 hours later, the bulldozers were out”.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein showed her support at the protest by spray painting the message “I approve this message” on the blade of a bulldozer, according to ABC News.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that construction would temporarily stop on some of the pipeline.
The judge denied that emergency restraining order.
“The Dakota Access pipeline would fuel climate change, cause untold damage to the environment, and significantly disturb sacred lands and the way of life for Native Americans in the upper Midwest”, a petition on CredoAction.com states.
Grand Ronde tribal council secretary Cheryle Kennedy said Grand Ronde was monitoring the situation in North Dakota but did not have any plans to extend further assistance. “In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground”.
“They had guard dogs who were barking at everybody and basically, they’re letting the guard dogs loose to bite people”, Ortegon said.
“I think what happens is the company or the government…doesn’t understand how peaceful, prayerful standoffs work”, he said.
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Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which is developing the pipeline, said the protesters broke through a fence and “attacked” the workers.
