The tribe also says ancient sites have been disturbed during construction. It follows a joint statement by the U.S. government which called for a temporary stop to construction of the Dakota access pipeline.
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In Friday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg acknowledged that “the United States’ relationship with the Indian tribes has been contentious and tragic”.
MANDAN, N.D. -A reporter from Democracy Now! who documented security personnel with guard dogs working for Dakota Access Pipeline is facing criminal trespassing charges in Morton County. Standing Rock Sioux tribal chairman Dave Archambault II, right, greets Wayland Gray, of Muskogee Creek Hickory Ground, Okla.at the organized protest on the North Dakota state capitol grounds on Friday, Sept.
A federal judge denied the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s request for an injunction that sought to temporarily stop construction on the pipeline, set to carry crude oil across four states.
The Department of Justice, the Army and the Interior Department jointly announced that construction would pause on the pipeline near North Dakota’s Lake Oahe, a major water source on the Missouri River for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Owned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile project would carry almost a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota’s oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, where shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.
More than a thousand people gather at an encampment near North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux reservation on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
“Everywhere in Indian Country, people are talking about this”, said Eid, who spoke by phone Saturday while on horseback during a parade at the Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock, Arizona. While we are troubled this situation even reached this level of contention, we are grateful that it is now sparking meaningful conversations never held at this level of government – conversations that actually take into consideration the needs and wishes of tribes when it comes to infrastructure projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline. The joint cabinet statement concluded with an invitation to a formal discussion this fall between government agencies and tribes.
Eid says the Obama administration’s action likely changed that.
“This could bog down or delay every single infrastructure project moving forward”, he said. “They need water in their future and I just can’t believe people thought this was a good idea”, Moore said.
Attorney Jan Hasselman with environmental group Earthjustice, who filed the lawsuit in July on behalf of the tribe, said in the days before the ruling that itll be challenged. “Things are very different now, whether from the right wing or left wing, politics of all kinds are being injected into this”.
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The agencies asked the pipeline company to “voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe”. 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”.
