The people who are in the camps are protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
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The announcement came the same day as a planned “day of action” in cities around the USA and in other countries, including the Toronto demonstration.
After sacred sites were identified in court filings in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit in the Washington D.C. federal court on September 2, Dakota Access bulldozed numerous sites on September 3, bringing in private security guards who maced and unleashed attack dogs on unarmed, peaceful water protectors. The pipeline would stretch for over 1,100 miles and carry crude oil from North Dakota to a hub in IL. The project, he notes, was approved without appropriate consultation with the Tribe.
A Texas pipeline company is constructing an oil pipeline that would cross under the Missouri River, threatening the drinking water supply for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
The move by the President came last Friday, after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has opposed the pipeline for two years.
Court documents filed Thursday by Bismarck attorney Timothy Purdon, who represents Archambault and Standing Rock Councilman Dana Yellow Fat, say the complaint should be dismissed because it fails to make allegations that would entitle the company to collect damages.
“We’re here to protect the water, to stand with Standing Rock, and also to ask for justice”, Said Deni Garlits who helped organize the peaceful protest.
In denying the request to block the project, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said on September 9. that Lake Oahe is of “undeniable importance” to the tribe. The federal government will not grant a permit for a critical portion of the project to continue until further “extensive review”.
Lawyers for the consortium said the tribe had offered “no reason” to interrupt work on the pipeline, which they said is nearly complete. She and others have said this is the largest gathering of American Indian tribes in a century.
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Archambault told the Council that the standoff at Standing Rock had galvanized support for his people.
