A federal judge has said he’ll rule by Friday on the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s lawsuit that challenges federal permits for the four-state, $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline.
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A second tribe filed a lawsuit Thursday against “various decisions and approvals” for the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was granted a permit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers without proper consultation.
No law enforcement personnel were present Saturday when violence broke out between private security guards and protesters.
Dalrymple spokesman Jeff Zent said plans are also in the works to “enhance” patrols in Bismarck and neighboring Mandan, about 40 miles from the protest site, but those coincide with an annual powwow that draws hundreds of dancers from around the country. The tribe’s lawsuit says the project violates several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, and will harm water supplies for the reservation’s residents and for millions downstream, as well as disturb ancient sacred sites.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe, also known as the Ihanktonwan Oyate, claimed in the suit, also filed against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that the approval was illegal because it “foreclosed the legally-mandated consultation process before consultation even began”.
ETP says the pipeline includes 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. The protectors are standing in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the tribe’s legal actions against Dakota Access LLC. Stein and Baraka have been charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and criminal mischief.
The line would be the first to allow movement of crude oil from the Bakken shale, a vast oil formation in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada, to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
It led to Saturday’s clash between protesters and private security guards hired by the pipeline company.
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The pipeline starts in western North Dakota and crosses through South Dakota, Iowa and IL.
