But soon after, the federal government stepped in.
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The U.S. Departments of Justice, the Interior and the Army weighed in immediately after the ruling’s release with an announcement that the Corps of Engineers will at least temporarily halt authorization for construction of the pipeline around Lake Oahe, while it relooks at its previous decisions regarding this large reservoir.
“For too long, this project has been mired in a campaign of misinformation and violence that does not consider the greater interests of national security and the state and nation’s economic prosperity”.
A Las Vegas Paiute Tribe statement says its planned 4 p.m. Friday “act of peace and prayer” near the iconic Bellagio resort fountains is to show solidarity against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The judge ruled against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request to stop a four-state oil pipeline under construction near their reservation, allowing construction on the pipeline to continue on Friday.
The government is also asking the pipeline company to voluntarily pause all construction within 20 miles of the lake pending a thorough review of the permits, which they pledged would be conducted “expeditiously”.
Native Americans march to the site of a sacred burial ground on September 4.
Dakota Access LLC’s parent company, Energy Transfer Partners, has not responded to repeated requests for comment from DeSmog.
Prior to the announcement of the ruling, the Standing Rock Tribe Chairman David Archambault II said that no matter the outcome, opponents of the pipeline should remain peaceful. A separate lawsuit filed Thursday by the Yankton Sioux tribe in South Dakota challenges the same thing. Robin Martinez, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild in Kansas City, told DeSmog he has mixed feelings about the implications of the joint statement.
Martinez was doubtful, though, that Dakota Access would stop bulldozing contested private land.
It says the fight is for clean water, human rights and respect for Native American treaties.
Last weekend, protests at the site turned violent.
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“Personnel from the North Dakota National Guard have been called upon by the governor to support law enforcement and augment public safety efforts, in light of recent activity with the Dakota Access Pipeline protest”, the statement said. Now there are more than 100 Native American Tribes represented at the camp. “The Guard members will serve in administrative capacities and assist in providing security at traffic information points”. It was the fourth run for this youth group, who recently ran from North Dakota to Washington D.C.to deliver 252,000 petition signatures. None of the arrests stemmed from Saturday’s confrontation between protesters and construction workers.
