The Dakota Access pipeline will transport up to 570,000 barrels of oil daily from North Dakota’s Bakken oil patch through South Dakota and Iowa to IL, where much of the oil is expected to be routed to the Gulf Coast.
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Chase Iron Eyes, a Standing Rock Sioux Tribe member and Fort Yates attorney challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer for North Dakota’s lone U.S. House seat, joined other candidates in calling for better communication between state government, protesters and pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas.
The flashpoint was on Labor Day, when the company dispatched bulldozers to dig up two miles of the route through culturally and historically sensitive land – despite the promise on its website to protect those sites.
Native tribes in Canada, known as First Nations, are targeting TransCanada, the company behind three pipelines meant to cross the country.
Community members stood across the street from Schenectady County Community College waving signs at passing cars to protest the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota. The tribe claims it wasn’t properly consulted about the pipeline and that the proposed lake crossing less than a mile north of its reservation threatens its water supply and sacred sites.
If completed, the 1,172-mile pipeline would traverse four states and is expected to carry almost half a million barrels of crude oil a day from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields to an existing pipeline in IL.
Robert Ironshield Jr is blessed by Kumai Yaqui Chicana during a rally to show solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux in Boulder, Colorado. Shortly after, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened and requested that the Army Corp of Engineers to temporarily stop authorization for construction of the pipeline while previous decisions regarding the reservoir are reviewed. The company claims that the Dakota Access Pipeline will enable use of more domestic oil without importing foreign oil.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II told Reuters the tribe was aware of the safety record of Energy Transfer, but declined to elaborate.
Opponents of the project worry about potential contamination of the Missouri River if the pipeline were to rupture, as well as potential damage to cultural artifacts along the route.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is heading up the probe of the September 3 incident on private land, after which private security guards and protesters reported injuries.
“Like the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, our tribe’s most sacred site, the Snoqualmie Falls, is endangered by destructive development”, said De Los Angeles. The Army Corps, in its own filing, said it has no objections to a temporary order to halt some of the project’s construction, saying it was interested in “preserving peace”.
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Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who chairs the White House Council on Native American Affairs, will also participate in tribal-led discussions on environment, infrastructure, economic development, health care and education.
