Standing Rock: US Army Corps of Engineers denies easement for Sioux Dakota Access Pipeline
Updated
The US Army Corps of Engineers says it will not grant an easement for the $US3.8 billion ($5.1 billion) Dakota Access oil pipeline.
Key points:
- US Army Corps announces it will not allow the pipeline to be built under Lake Oahe
- The decision was based on the need to "find an alternate route"
- The route has been the subject of months of protests
The decision is a victory for the several thousand camped near the construction site, who have said for months that the project would threaten a water source and cultural sites.
The pipeline is largely complete except for the now-blocked segment underneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir.
According to a news release, assistant secretary for civil works Jo-Ellen Darcy said her decision was based on the need to "explore alternate routes" for the pipeline's crossing.
The company constructing the pipeline, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, had said it was unwilling to reroute the project. It and the Morton County Sheriff's Office, which has done much of the policing of the protests, did not have immediate comment.
US Secretary for the Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement that the Corps' "thoughtful approach … ensures that there will be an in-depth evaluation of alternative routes for the pipeline and a closer look at potential impacts".
"[The move] underscores that tribal rights reserved in treaties and federal law, as well as Nation-to-Nation consultation with tribal leaders, are essential components of the analysis to be undertaken in the environmental impact statement going forward," Ms Jewell added.
The route has been the subject of months of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and others.
"Today, the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline," the tribe said in a statement.
The Federal Government has ordered people to leave the main encampment, which is on Army Corps of Engineers' land, by Monday. But demonstrators say they're prepared to stay, and authorities say they will not forcibly remove them.
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 veterans volunteering to help protesters have arrived at the Oceti Sakowin camp.
The Veterans Stand for Standing Rock group's GoFundMe.com page had raised more than $US1 million of its $US1.2 million goal by Sunday money due to go toward food, transportation and supplies. Cars waiting to get into the camp Sunday afternoon were backed up for more than a half-mile.
"People are fighting for something, and I thought they could use my help," said Navy veteran and Harvard graduate student Art Grayson.
The 29-year-old from Cambridge, Massachusetts, flew the first leg of the journey, then rode from Bismarck in the back of a pickup truck. He has finals this week, but told professors, "I'll see you when I get back."
Steven Perry, a 66-year-old Vietnam veteran who is a member of the Little Traverse Bay band of Odawa Indians in Michigan, spoke of one of the protesters' main concerns: that the pipeline could pollute drinking water. "This is not just a native issue," he said, "This is an issue for everyone."
Art Woodson and two other veterans drove 17 hours straight from Flint, Michigan, a city whose lead-tainted water crisis parallels with the tribe's fight over water, he said.
"We know in Flint that water is in dire need," the 49-year-old disabled Gulf War Army veteran said.
"In North Dakota, they're trying to force pipes on people. We're trying to get pipes in Flint for safe water."
Reuters/AP
Topics: world-politics, environmental-policy, united-states
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