Despite rejection by a federal appeals court of the injunction it sought to halt construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, a Native American tribe insists the fight is not over.
“The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not backing down from this fight,” Dave Archambault II, chairman of the tribe, said on Oct. 9 in a Facebook posting. “We will not rest until our lands, people, waters and sacred places are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Oct. 9 denied the motion, allowing construction to continue within a 20-mile radius of Lake Oahe. The three-judge court ruled that the tribe had not met the legal standard to warrant the injunction.
However, the court also said it recognized the intention of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and noted that “ours is not the final word.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has yet to approve an easement that would allow the pipeline to run under the Missouri River.
The U.S. Justice Department and other agencies have halted construction on federal lands and lands adjacent to the lake, and have requested that construction be voluntarily halted on private land.
The tribe charged that the decision to shift the site of the 1,172-mile pipeline’s crossing of the river from just north of Bismark, N.D.—to avoid endangering the city’s drinking water—to within half a mile of the reservation’s boundary has already led to destruction and desecration of sacred and historic sites.
The 30-inch pipeline will be able to move from 470 thousand barrles per day (Mbbl/d) to 570 Mbbl/d of crude oil when complete. Its original in-service date was fourth-quarter 2016. It was proposed to handle the dramatic increase in crude output from the Bakken Shale and is expected to employ between 8,000 and 12,000 workers during construction.
The project is a joint venture of Energy Transfer Equity LP (NYSE: ETE), Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC), Enbridge Energy Partners LP (NYSE: EEP) and Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX).
U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp agreed in a statement that the court’s decision was not the end of legal maneuvering.
“I’ve been pressing the Army Corps of Engineers to make a decision determining the course of the pipeline while pushing for federal law enforcement resources our officers need to keep the peace on the ground,” she said. “As a harsh North Dakota winter approaches and tensions continue to rise, protecting protesters, workers and surrounding communities will be crucial—and I’ll keep working to secure the resources and the certainty they need to stay safe.”
Actress Shailene Woodley was arrested on Oct. 10 during a protest at the construction site and charged with trespassing. Woodley stars in the Oliver Stone film, “Snowden,” and appeared for several years in the TV series, “The Secret Life Of An American Teenager.”
Woodley said she was leaving the site to return to the campground where the protesters were staying when she was arrested. She posted a video of the protest on her Facebook page.
Joseph Markman can be reached at jmarkman@hartenergy.com or @JHMarkman.
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