A USA federal court refused a request by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to halt construction of an oil pipeline, but the federal government stepped into the dispute Friday, appealing for calm and ordering the pipeline construction company to suspend its work on federal land.
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The U.S. Departments of Justice, Army and Interior said in a joint statement released minutes after the district court made its ruling that it would block construction on federal land and suggest that the company behind the project suspend work nearby.
Opposition to the pipeline has grown into a national movement, supported by 200 Native American tribes and public figures including Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and celebrities like actress Susan Sarandon and Shailene Woodley.
The protests gained national attention and those who were against the building of the pipeline argued their concern for the environmental impact it would have on the land, and also that the proposed location for it is sacred ground for the tribe.
The $3.7 billion project, which would span four states, has led to heated, sometimes violent protests.
The project is due to pass near lands that are sacred to members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the rural state of North Dakota. Before speaking to the crowd, Archambault told reporters that the pipeline fight is a long way from over, but called the federal announcement “a handsome start”.
“Protesters physically assaulted private security officers hired by Dakota Access Pipeline”.
Months have passed since the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota began protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in an attempt to stop the major project from running through their lands.
This came after a federal judge struck down the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s request for apreliminary injunction earlier Friday, filed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On Friday, shortly after a federal judge refused to prevent construction of the entire pipeline, President Barack Obama’s administration temporarily blocked the portion that would be within 20 miles of Lake Oahe.
The plaintiffs claim the tribe was not properly consulted before the US Army Corps of Engineers approved the pipeline project. But the federal government quickly stepped in Friday by stopping work on one section and asking the pipeline company to do the same on a larger 40-mile swath.
This pause is only a temporary respite, and Judge Boesberg believes that the “tribe has not demonstrated that the injunction is warranted here”.
Almost 40 have been arrested as the protest has grown size, including Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault II.
“I am against the destruction of the water that sustains our lives, each and every one of us”, said Margaret Saluskin, a Yakama member at Sunday’s demonstration.
The majority owners of the DAPL are Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (NYSE: ETP) and Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE: SXL).
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The ruling said Dakota Access hired professional archaeologists to survey the entire route through the Dakotas and much of Iowa and IL for cultural resources. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe say he pipeline “threatens the Tribe’s environmental and economic well-being, and would damage and destroy sites of great historic, religious, and cultural significance to the Tribe”.
