The Standing Rock Sioux had asked a federal judge to stop construction on the project while its lawsuits over the pipeline’s route move forward.
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Protestors gather at the blocked entrance to a construction site for the Dakota Access Pipeline to express their opposition to the pipeline, near an encampment where hundreds of people have gathered to join the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s to protest against the construction of the new oil pipeline, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, on September 3, 2016.
But minutes later, federal officials ordered a temporary halt to construction on Army Corps land around and underneath Lake Oahe – one of six reservoirs on the Missouri River. Stopping the project now would cost $1.4 billion the first year, mostly due to lost revenue in hauling crude oil, the AP reported.
The announcement came the same day as a planned “day of action” in cities around the United States and in other countries, including the Toronto demonstration.
Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren told employees in a memo released to media Tuesday that the 1,172-mile, $3.8 billion oil pipeline from North Dakota to IL is more than 60 percent complete and the company remains committed to completing it. The tribe says the project will disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water. But for now anyway, the Dakota Access pipeline is on indefinite hold.
That request was issued just minutes after a U.S. District Court declined to halt construction at the same portion of the line’s route through North Dakota. Protesters say they will remain through the winter.
A student-led anti-prison protest also happened alongside the pipeline protest, some holding signs with messages like “No prisons, no pipelines, no pipelines to prisons”.
Morton County authorities say eight people were arrested Wednesday, including three cited for locking themselves onto construction equipment.
According to the Associated Press, ETP CEO Kelcy Warren said in a memo to employees on Monday: “I am confident that as long as the government ultimately decides the fate of the project based on science and engineering, the Dakota Access Pipeline will become operational”.
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Approximately 150 people protested in support of the Standing Rock Sioux’s efforts in Boulder on Tuesday.
