On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge rejected the Tribe’s request to stop its construction.
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The U.S. Department of Justice, the Army and the Department of the Interior issued a statement it would stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on land next to or under Lake Oahe which is under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers. According to Mashable, Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman, who filed the suit in July for the tribe, they will continue to challenge such ventures.
The US Army Corps of Engineers, which owns some of the land where the pipeline was planned to be constructed and has been involved in the permitting process, said it would not allow the continuation of the process on its property until officials re-examined the Native American tribe’s concerns about the pipeline as well as previous projects. Boasberg also claimed the tribe had “not shown it will suffer injury that would be prevented by any injunction the court could issue”.
It was unclear if the pipeline’s developer, Energy Transfer Partners, would perform work on other sections of the pipeline or comply with the government’s request.
He ordered the parties to appear for a status conference on September 16.
The government’s surprise announcement said the tribes had raised important issues “regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally”.
But now three Federal Agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Army and the Interior Department say construction will pause on the pipeline. It would run within half a mile of Standing Rock Sioux tribal lands and, the tribe says, could potentially leak oil into rivers the tribe depends on for water.
The Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation sits near the Dakota Access pipeline’s route, brought a lawsuit contending the pipeline will disturb places of cultural importance and possibly contaminate potable water from the Missouri River.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II is expected to speak from the North Dakota Capitol shortly after 3 p.m. Friday. They were stopped by private security workers, some using guard dogs and pepper spray.
In a statement posted online the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe summarized the actions taken by the agencies and added that they “also set the stage for a nationwide reform, establishing consultation with tribes regarding the need for meaningful tribal input for all pipeline projects in the future”.
“It is the responsibility of the police to ensure the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression”, Demant emphasized.
Law enforcement had been beefed up at the protest site near Cannonball, North Dakota, n anticipation of Friday’s court ruling. Stein had been photographed while spray-painting construction equipment when she joined the Native Americans in their protests against the $3.8 billion pipeline earlier this week.
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Almost 40 people have been arrested since the protest began in April, including tribal chairman Dave Archambault II, though none stemmed from Saturdays confrontation between protesters and construction workers.
