The proposed 1,172-mile pipeline would transport almost a half a million barrels of crude oil daily from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota and Iowa into IL.
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Delegations from around 200 Native American tribes, as well as allies from around the world, have been camped on the bank of the river in protest against the project. The more extensive a reroute, the more likely it is that regulatory obstacles crop up.
I hope we can support the Great Sioux Nation as its members protect not only the waters of the 1852 Fort Laramie Treaty Territory, but also the waters of life for all of us. “Should a reroute take place, there are some major challenges”. This is an extraordinary action; Jack McDonald, a lawyer for the North Dakota Newspaper Association and for the Bismarck Tribune, told the Tribune that in 40 years of doing media law in the state he’s never heard of a reporter being charged with trespassing (9/15/16). If that does not happen, an alternative solution does not appear to be easy to come by.
“I’m really proud that we could bring so many people to this one spot and come together and pray and send up good thoughts to the Creator and fill this space with such good energy”, Eagle said.
The lawsuit also states the tribe’s concern for its water supply in the event of an oil spill, as the pipeline would cross underneath Lake Oahe – a dammed section of the Missouri River – which is half a mile upstream of the Sioux reservation. As Montanans know only too well from recent pipeline disasters on the Yellowstone River, pipelines under rivers break, and when they do, the damage is nearly impossible to mitigate or clean. The goal of the pipeline is to enable domestically produced crude oil in a safer and more efficient manner and will cross 18 Iowa counties.
Dunnington has participated in multiple Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
“No one can live without water”.
“We’ve run on empty for a number of generations and we’re stepping up”, she said. When construction began, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe started protesting near a North Dakota town called Cannon Ball. The company has a history of major problems with its lines, responsible for more than 800 spills since 1999, including the largest inland oil pipeline spill in USA history – the 2010 Kalamazoo River disaster.
“I think there will be announcements coming out in the next few days”, he said.
Since April, there’s been a tribal protest at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers and it has grown considerably – thousands gathered last week.
The encampment has averaged about 4,000 people recently, he estimated; only 25 of North Dakota’s 357 towns have more than 2,000 people.
“A permitting process is quite complicated”, Hansen said.
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“This is a large issue, and why expedite it when we have to sit down and consider the ways to move forward”. “The Court also recognizes that numerous troublesome “peaceful protestors” are from out-of-state who have political interests in the pipeline protest and hidden agendas vastly different and far removed from the legitimate interests of Native Americans of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who are actually impacted by the pipeline project”.
