Last Friday, a federal judge rejected a request from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop construction. When Native American “Water Protectors” from the nearby protest camp marched in to stop the destruction, they were attacked by a private mercenary security team armed with mace and dogs.
Advertisement
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The Standing Rock Sioux’s effort to block a four-state oil pipeline got a lifeline when the federal government temporarily stopped the project, a move some say likely may forever change the way all energy infrastructure projects are reviewed in the future.
Native American protesters are anxious that the $3.7 billion pipeline will affect drinking water from the Missouri River and disturb sacred tribal sites.
The Obama Administration ruling to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has been called a game changer for the indigenous people of North America.
People rally on the grounds of the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D., Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, following a federal judge’s ruling in Washington denying a request by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to halt construction on the Dakota Access pipeline, a thousand-mile pipeline being built to carry North Dakota crude oil across four states to IL.
After Judge Boasberg said in his ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision to fast-track the pipeline project was not illegal, tribal leaders quickly filed a notice of appeal. The tribe argues the pipeline would disturb sacred sites and affect drinking water for the thousands of residents on the reservation and the millions who rely on it downstream.
“Our tribe is going to appeal”, said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
He called the federal announcement “a attractive start” and told reporters that the dispute is a long way from over.
“A public policy win is a lot stronger than a judicial win”, he said. ‘Our message is heard’.
In their joint statement, the three USA departments said they would schedule meetings with Native American leaders to discuss how the federal government can better consider the tribes’ views and respect their land. The Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) claims local Native American tribes and nations were not “consulted in an appropriate manner” about the project, as the US Army Corps of Engineers is required to do in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act (Section 106).
He ordered the parties to appear for a status conference on September 16.
Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and the corps gave Standing Rock officials several chances to weigh in in 2014, but tribal officials didn’t take advantage of those opportunities, the judge wrote.
The government intervened and said the matter needed more consideration, and blocked any work on federal land near or underneath Lake Oahe, a major water source formed by the damming of the Missouri River. But that announcement is not stopping him from traveling to North Dakota in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
The pipeline itself would be 1,172 miles long and would carry around 500,000 gallons of oil per day between North Dakota and IL.
State authorities announced this week that law enforcement officers from across the state were being mobilized at the protest site.
Advertisement
It could help reduce the cost of transporting North Dakota oil, enabling it to better compete with cheaper oil from Canada.
