The protests against the Dakota Access pipeline have drawn global attention, sparking a renewal of Native American activism and prompting the US government to block its construction on federal land, even as the company building the line expressed its commitment to the project on Tuesday.
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Warren wrote the 1,172-mile pipeline is almost 60 percent complete and the company has so far spent over $1.6 billion on equipment, materials and workforce.
The project would carry a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from western North Dakota’s oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill., where shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.
“We are committed to completing construction and safely operating the Dakota Access Pipeline within the confines of the law”, Warren said in his letter.
Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, and Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., wrote a letter to the GOP leadership of the House Natural Resources Committee requesting an oversight hearing into whether federal agencies properly consulted with Indian tribes on the Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.8-billion, 1,172-mile pipeline that would carry oil from North Dakota to IL.
A federal judge declined Friday to block the pipeline, but the federal agencies stopped work near Lake Oahe while they re-examine their approval of the pipeline on Army Corps of Engineers’ land.
She said Tuesday she is standing in solidarity with people all over the country that are protesting as well.
Months later, after legal wrangling, celebrity endorsements and, most importantly, the arrival of thousands more Native Americans to join the opposition, the issue has exploded into one of the most contentious and high-profile environmental battles in the nation.
Last Friday, a federal judge rejected an attempt by Standing Rock Sioux tribal leaders to halt the pipeline’s construction, only to have the U.S. government block the undertaking moments later.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners obtained federal permits for the $3.8 billion pipeline in July, two years after it was first announced. He worries that vocal minorities could halt new any new project.
“We fear that President Obama has now set a unsafe precedent where political considerations can now thwart or delay every single infrastructure project moving forward”, said NABTU President Sean McGarvey, who, along with API President and CEO Jack Gerard, spoke during a phone conference with news reporters.
In his memo, Warren claims that his pipeline company “worked to meet with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe leaders on multiple occasions”. The pipeline will also disturb sacred sites on land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. “Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time”. “However, misinformation has dominated the news, so we will work to communicate with the government and media more clearly in the days to come”.
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Demonstrators say they hope this will move more people to act and speak out against pipelines.
