A federal judge has granted the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s request to temporarily stop work on some, but not all of a portion of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline to safeguard cultural sites in North Dakota.
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Earthjustice, which is providing legal representation for the tribe in a federal lawsuit it filed against the U.S Army Corps of Engineers over the permitting of the Dakota Access Pipeline, said, in federal court Tuesday, lawyers for the pipeline said they would agree to stop construction west of Highway 1806, where the tribal sacred sites were marked by the tribe, if the protesters would disband.
The people opposing construction say they were attacked by private security guard dogs and pepper sprayed. Thanks to a free 20 minute CPR class, Kyle Prater was able to save his sister’s life in a matter of seconds.
If completed, the 1,172-mile pipeline would carry 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day from North Dakota to IL.
Standing Rock Sioux tribal chairman Dave Archambault II issued a statement after the ruling, saying: “Today’s denial of a temporary restraining order. west of Lake Oahe puts my people’s sacred places at further risk of ruin and desecration”. “No more are we going to let things happen to us”.
A spokeswoman for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners didn’t immediately respond to telephone messages requesting comment. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said law enforcement officers pulled back from responding to a report of 150-200 protesters gathered at a construction site on private land because they determined it wasn’t safe to response. Officials say two protesters were secured to heavy equipment.
At the weekend a confrontation ensued at a work site near Lake Oahe as people opposing the pipeline breached fences and attempted to stop bulldozers conducting earthworks.
The tribe has requested a halt to the construction of a 2-mile stretch of the pipeline near Lake Oahe, North Dakota, to prevent the destruction of sacred and culturally significant sites.
“The elders say that reburying can help deal with the loss and hurt of disturbing these graves”, he said. The company said it “has taken and continues to take every reasonable precaution” to protect cultural sites.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe claims that it was not properly consulted before the project was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The tribes oppose the construction of the four-state Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which, if completed, would carry almost half million barrels of crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale formation.
Hasselman said Tuesday that the tribe was “disappointed that some of the important sacred sites that we had found and provided evidence for will not be protected”.
Stein, who is anti-war and advocates for clean energy, camped out with protesters Monday evening.
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Though she’s a from a different tribe and lives in a different state, Sarah Ortegon felt compelled to drive from Denver to North Dakota to join the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
