Although a District Court federal judge declined to stop the 1,100-mile fossil fuel project’s construction, three federal agencies have blocked the Dakota Access Pipeline pending a thorough review and reconsideration of the process.
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That decision likely influenced the Army’s announcement, which saw the writing on the wall.
After Judge Boasberg said in his ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision to fast-track the pipeline project was not illegal, tribal leaders quickly filed a notice of appeal.
Hundreds of people weathered a thunderstorm on Sunday afternoon at the Bangor Waterfront to show support for the Standing Rock Sioux, the Native American tribe battling construction of a North Dakota oil pipeline near territory it considers sacred.
The agency said it will move expeditiously to make the determination and provide a clear and timely resolution. Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time.
A North Dakota judge issued a warrant Wednesday for the capture of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is blamed for spray-painting construction equipment amid a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline.
“We were very apolitical in the decisions we made”, he said.
The tribe haggled with the oil pipeline developers over whether the National Historic Preservation Act, which allows the government to preserve historical and archaeological sites, can be used to prevent the building of the $3.8 million pipeline. Over the course of the summer, they left their homes at Standing Rock and ran 2,000 miles to Washington, DC – they arrived in early August – in an effort to bring attention to the movement against the pipeline.
The Dakota Access pipeline is meant to carry crude oil from the Bakken shale, a vast oil formation in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada, directly to the U.S. Gulf.
Like the Standing Rock Sioux, Maine’s tribes have had conflicts with government and industry.
“We have respected and protected the right of individuals to protest even when protests have disrupted our community”, Morton County Commission Chairman Cody Shulz said in a statement released after the ruling.
“However, important issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally, remain”. The pipeline would also cross the Missouri River.
In North Dakota, work has stopped on one section of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. We also want to recognize the Standing Rock people and Natives from all over the United States who have joined in solidarity for months to halt this unsafe pipeline.
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The worst case scenario for the pipeline builders is that the DAPL project will be completely rejected, as was the Keystone XL project.
