The statement also said the case “highlighted the need for a serious discussion” about nationwide reforms “with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects”. The North Dakota Tribe sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claiming the Bakken Oil Pipeline could ruin drinking water taken from the Missouri River.
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Industry consultant Brigham McCown, a former acting administrator for the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said the Obama administration’s involvement has “changed the lay of the land forever” for infrastructure projects.
The Obama administration’s decision to block another oil pipeline targeted by environmental activists and some American Indians has set the stage for a major legal and political battle that could rival the fight for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Chairman of Standing Rock, David Archambault says, “Can’t tell you if there’s an end or start date for anything, but I know that it is important that we continue to send a message”. He called the federal announcement “a handsome start” and told reporters that the dispute is a long way from over.
More than a thousand people gather at an encampment near North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux reservation on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
Since April, Standing Rock Sioux members have camped in North Dakota protesting the planned $3.8 billion pipeline, which would go from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to IL.
‘I was doing my job by covering pipeline guards unleashing dogs and pepper spray on Native American protesters’.
Dakota Access LLC’s parent company, Energy Transfer Partners, has not responded to repeated requests for comment from DeSmog.
“It helped the community with the company workers helping the local economy”, Senger said.
But like many others celebrating the government’s announcement, Moose said the victory was not clear-cut because of the judge’s decision.
“We brought a ton of water, sleeping bags, mats to sleep on”, says Jessie Weahkee of Albuquerque.
Provost said she thinks the pipeline, if completed, will cause further irreversible damage.
Within the camp, the tribal flags planted into the soil side-by-side with American flags flown upside down as a sign of distress, populated the landscape on the outskirts of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
U.S. District JudgeJames Boasberg in Washington denied the tribe’s request for a temporary injunction in a 58-page opinion.
Judge James Boasberg ruled Friday that “the Corps has likely complied with the NHPA and that the Tribe has not shown it will suffer injury that would be prevented by any injunction the Court could issue”.
After a roller coaster of action last week on the embattled Dakota Access pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has walked away with almost everything it wanted, for now.
A status conference in the tribe’s lawsuit is scheduled for September 16.
Kirsten Kelsch is married to a Standing Rock tribal member and organized Friday’s protest in Bismarck.
State authorities announced this week that law enforcement officers from across the state were being mobilized at the protest site.
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Late last month, more than two dozen people were arrested across two states while protesting the project.
