Protesters demonstrate against the Dakota Access oil pipeline project near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in Cannon Ball, N.D. on Friday.
Advertisement
The ruling deals a blow to critics who argued that the Dakota Access Pipeline would damage sites of cultural significance, as well as create an environmental hazard where it crosses the Missouri River.
Energy Transfer said the pipeline would bring an estimated $156 million in sales and income taxes to state and local governments. Outrage over the pipeline has galvanized Native American tribes and environmentalists across the U.S.
However, important issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally, remain.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg wrote in his decision that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe failed to show “it will suffer injury that would be prevented by any injunction the Court could issue”. He said “the court scrutinizes the permitting process here with particular care”.
The Army Corps of Engineers will not authorize the pipeline’s construction on federal land bordering or under Lake Oahe, “until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider” earlier steps it took to authorize the pipeline, the Department of Justice, Department of the Army, and Department of the Interior announced in a joint statement on Friday. This story also clarifies that the federal government stopped construction near Lake Oahe and requested the company do so on a wider stretch.
“This case has highlighted the need for a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects”, the agencies said. In court papers, it said stopping the project would cost $1.4 billion the first year, mostly due to lost revenue in hauling crude. According to Dallas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, “it will transport approximately 470,000 barrels per day with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels per day or more – which could represent approximately half of Bakken current daily crude oil production”. The tribe argued that it threatens water supplies and has already disrupted sacred sites. And they fear that any pipeline leak at the Missouri crossing, which lies just upstream of the reservation that straddles the Dakotas, could contaminate crucial drinking water. South Dakota’s many tribes have joined together to oppose the pipeline, as they did with the Keystone XL pipeline. Energy Transfer Partners denied the allegations. The parties are scheduled to meet for a status conference on September 16.
The tribe filed a lawsuit against the Corps, saying it did not adequately consider the potential environmental impacts of the project. “We appreciate the District Court’s opinion on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act”.
Energy Transfer Partners officials didn’t return The Associated Press’ phone calls or emails seeking comment.
A North Dakota state agency that regulates private investigation and security firms is looking into the use of force against protesters of the Dakota Access pipeline.
The ruling on a Native American tribe’s request for a temporary restraining order on construction comes one day after Gov. Jack Dalrymple activated the state National Guard “in the event they are needed to support law enforcement response efforts”, according to a National Guard spokesman.
The tribe says it will appeal.
Advertisement
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, who also has been a part of the protests near the North Dakota reservation, says that the tribe will “continue to stand” and “look for legal recourses”, as well as continue to protest peacefully.
