The tribe also alleges that ancient sites have been disturbed during construction.
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“This is a historic, unprecedented, and overdue move by the Administration that is reflective of the fearless and principled stand by the Standing Rock Sioux”, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement on the Obama administration blocking the project. If built, it will be 1,172 miles long and cost $3.8 billion.
Most significantly, they’re considering reform. Relations between the tribe and corps didn’t improve in 2015, when tribal officials canceled several meetings, according to the ruling. “I want to take a moment and reflect on this historic moment in Indian Country”, Archambault said, in a statement.
But by Friday, Boasberg ruled the Standing Rock Sioux tribe had not presented enough evidence that the Dakota Access Pipeline would cause irreparable harm to the tribe that the Court could prevent, and thus denied the tribe’s request to halt construction on the pipeline. It’s unclear if this joint statement will actually have an impact on the company’s plans to continue with construction as planned. So she’s here – hoping the Standing Rock Sioux can win this one.
Environmentalists cheered the news.
The agencies will now decide whether they need to reconsider permitting decisions for the pipeline under the National Environmental Policy Act. North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple has already announced he is mobilizing the National Guard.
Find out more information about the Dakota Access Pipeline here.
For supporters of the pipeline, the Obama administration’s move was at best needless meddling and at worst a risky precedent. When the surveys revealed previously unidentified resources, the company changed the route on its own 140 times in North Dakota alone to avoid them, the judge said, and the corps ordered the company to change the route where it crossed the James River to avoid burial sites there.
The joint cabinet statement concluded with an invitation to a formal discussion this fall between government agencies and tribes.
While work remains uncertain in North Dakota, construction continues in all other parts of the state and in other states.
“(T) he proposed route was carefully created to transport crude in the safest, most efficient way possible”, a DAPL website states.
Now, all attention is on the Obama administration’s next steps.
The government intervened and said the matter needed more consideration, and blocked any work on federal land near or underneath Lake Oahe, a major water source formed by the damming of the Missouri River. We need to permanently protect our sacred sites and our water.
And beyond that pipeline, supporters point out that shipping crude by pipeline is nearly always safer than shipping it by train.
“We are preparing for winter”, she said. “I think it is very risky for government institutions to weigh in as heavily handed as this”. They also said they respect protesters’ rights to assemble and speak freely.
Provost said the issue goes deeper than the pipeline.
“In the absence of a new alternative, (Bakken) crude will have to use the existing infrastructure to move”, said Sandy Fielden, the director of research for commodities and energy at Morningstar.
“Should the Administration ultimately stop this construction, it would set a horrific precedent”, he said.
“It could delay a project by years”.
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Energy Transfer Partners officials didnt return The Associated Press phone calls or emails seeking comment.
