CDT Project: Day 1
Today’s Highlight: Standing Rock Sioux - Then & Now
Then:
In 2016, Standing Rock Sioux Opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)
On April 1, 2016, one of the greatest organizing efforts to protect land, human rights, and the future of this planet began in North Dakota.
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is proposed to transport 450,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude oil (which is fracked and highy volatile) from the lands of North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. The threats this pipeline poses to the environment, human health and human rights are strikingly similar to those posed by the Keystone XL. Because the DAPL will cross over the Ogallala Aquifer (one of the largest aquifers in the world) and under the Missouri River twice (the longest river in the United States), the possible contamination of these water sources makes the Dakota Access pipeline a national threat.
Th tribal citizens of the Standing Rock Lakota Nation and ally Lakota, Nakota, & Dakota citizens, under the group name “Chante tin’sa kinanzi Po” founded a Spirit Camp along the proposed route of the bakken oil pipeline, Dakota Access. The Spirit Camp is dedicated to stopping and raising awareness the Dakota Access pipeline, the dangers associated with pipeline spills and the necessity to protect the water resources of the Missouri river.
Unfortunately, the Dakota Access Pipeline began commercial service June 1, 2017, transporting crude oil from the Bakken/Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to a storage and terminalling hub outside Pakota, Illinois.
Now:
Judge Boasberg and his Oct. 11 ruling that the Dakota Access Pipeline would continue to pump oil pending an environmental review by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sued the Corps in July, 2016 contending that the pipeline destroyed sacred Indigenous sites and threatens the water quality of the Standing Rock Reservation that sits only a half-mile or less from where the pipeline crosses the Missouri River in North Dakota. The Tribe has consistently filed motions to stop the flow of oil while litigation is ongoing.
In the latest round of courtroom battles DAPL claimed that a pipeline shutdown would cause a major economic downturn. However, the court found no basis for that assertion in its most recent ruling. The court instead anchored its decision on the possibility that the Corps would be able to base its previous decision on pipeline approval, that the court found inadequate and on other factors and refused to shut down the pipeline while the Army Corps goes forward with its review. Boasberg is already setting the stage for another DAPL win. A mere “possibility” that the Corps will prevail is enough to keep the pipeline open.
The judge’s decision followed the announcement by the Corps on Friday, Oct. 6 that it will probably take until next spring to complete an additional court-ordered environmental study of the pipeline. It was originally anticipated that the study would be completed by December, 2017. The Justice Department indicated it would take longer than expected to obtain spill modeling information from Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the Texas-based developer that owns DAPL. Obviously, ETP is in no hurry to provide that information. The longer the process, the more this works in favor of the oil company. The Corps now anticipates that the review and analysis will not be completed until April 2, 2018. What a windfall for ETP, as it will rake in millions of dollars in the meantime from the deadly pipeline.
Boasberg, at a status hearing on June 21, ordered the attorneys, under a byzantine, convoluted schedule, to submit new arguments over a two-month timeline to address the issue of whether the pipeline should remain operational pending the completion of the new environmental review.
Earthjustice, the environmental law firm representing the Tribe, intends to focus on the remand process and show that the risks of an oil spill and the impacts on the Tribe are enough to require a full environmental impact statement (EIS), which would reopen the issue of an appropriate location for crossing the Missouri River.
In the meantime, the Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes have presented proposals to protect their water supply pending the glacial movement of the court in reaching its next decision in the case. The tribes are requesting increased public reporting of pipeline issues such as repairs and establishment of an emergency spill response plan at the Lake Oahe pipeline crossing of the Missouri River.
Let’s continue the fight for sacred water and indigenous land rights! Learn more at Sacred Stone Camp website and stay up to date on news at Indian Country Today Media Network and Democracy Now!