Their announcement came via press release today in the wake of a decision by the U.S. District Court to deny the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for injunction to halt pipeline construction.
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The Obama administration Friday said it would not allow work on federal land along the route of Energy Transfer Partners LP’s controversial crude oil pipeline, less than an hour after a judge ruled construction could proceed on the $3.8 billion project.
No matter what the government or courts ultimately decide, numerous people who call themselves “water protectors” coming together at the camp near Cannon Ball, N.D. have said they’re prepared to continue the resistance despite the bulldozers.
The Standing Rock Tribe said it received little notice from the US Army Corps of Engineers this summer about permits that were requested by a company building an 1100 mile pipeline from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to link up with an existing pipeline in IL.
Supporters of the project say it will help reduce USA dependence on foreign oil, while critics – including many American Indian tribes – say the construction runs roughshod over territory held sacred by the Standing Rock Sioux.
On Friday, minutes after a judge rejected efforts by the Standing Rock Sioux to halt construction, the federal government intervened, temporarily blocking construction on part of the pipeline. “In the interim, we request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe”, the report reads.
The $3.8 billion pipeline would carry 450,000 barrels of crude oil each day from North Dakota to IL.
A joint statement from the Army and the Departments of Justice and the Interior, revealed that the pause would be applied to the pipeline’s path across a sliver of federal lands and under a dammed section of the Missouri River known as Lake Oahe.
Earlier in the day, thousands of protesters, many from tribes around the country, gathered near the reservation that straddles the North and South Dakota border. The complaint said that the Dakota Access Pipeline, or DAPL, could discharge materials “at multiple locations in the tribe’s ancestral lands” without proper permitting.
Demonstrators say they’re rallying in solidarity with Native Americans fighting to stop the pipeline that would run from North Dakota to IL. “The Obama administration has asked tribes to the table to make sure that we have meaningful consultation on infrastructure projects”.
In their joint statement, the three departments said they would invite Native American leaders to meetings this fall to discuss how the federal government can better consider the tribes’ views and respect their land. The government’s action reflected the success of growing protests over the proposed $3.7 billion pipeline crossing four states which have sparked a renewal of Native American activism.
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The Portland protesters, however, were undeterred by the ruling. The resulting photos showed snarling dogs lunging at protesters; a tribal spokesman said demonstrators were bitten, while the sheriff’s department said private security guards as well as dogs were also hurt.
