A judge stopped construction on parts of the Dakota Access Pipeline on one side of a local highway.
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The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed an emergency motion Sunday for a temporary restraining order “to prevent further destruction of the tribe’s sacred sites by Dakota Access Pipeline”, it said.
A federal judge has issued an order to temporarily halt construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline.
A multibillion-dollar pipeline being built through land claimed by Native Americans to be culturally sensitive has sparked outrage, protest and heartbreak among tribe members who say sacred sites are being “bulldozed”.
But the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sued the Corps, saying the pipeline “threatens the Tribe’s environmental and economic well-being, and would damage and destroy sites of great historic, religious, and cultural significance to the Tribe”.
CANNON BALL, N.D./WASHINGTON A Native American tribe’s efforts to halt construction of a crude oil pipeline in North Dakota have swelled into a movement, drawing worldwide attention and the support of movie stars and social media, and making a major oil company blink.
But Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II said he doesn’t support moving more crude oil from North Dakota.
Protesters are also anxious that digging the pipeline under the Missouri River could affect the drinking water supply if the pipeline breaks.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein met with protesters on the construction site, endorsing the action.
Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which is developing the pipeline, said the protesters broke through a fence and “attacked” the workers.
“I’m not here for a photo op”, Stein said.
His tribe is now challenging the permits of Energy Transfer Partners in federal court on the grounds that the promoters did not adequately consult First Nations. According to a tribe spokesman, about six people, including a child, were bitten by the dogs and 30 were pepper-sprayed. “We’re grateful that there was an agreement at least in the area immediately next to Lake Oahe, and we’ll know more by the end of the week about where we’re heading”. Members of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Coeur d’Alene, and Quinault Indian Nation had planned to join the Puyallup canoe family on the Missouri River this morning, but a rainstorm cut the trip short.
North Dakota authorities are recruiting law enforcement officers from across the state to guard the site of a protest in anticipation of an impending federal ruling on whether to block the construction of the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline.
The fight over the pipeline’s construction has prompted protests that turned violent over the weekend.
In a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday, Archambault said that “we still have to remain peaceful and respectful”.
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“The Corps acknowledges that the public interest would be served by preserving peace near Lake Oahe until the Court can render its well-considered opinion on Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction”, said the Corps’ brief.
