Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners says it has placed oil in a section of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, a reservoir of the Missouri River, upstream from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
The Associated Press reports, “American Indian tribes fighting the Dakota Access pipeline said Tuesday that the pumping of oil into the pipe under their water source is a blow, but it doesn’t end their legal battle. Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier said Sioux tribes in the Dakotas still believe they ultimately will persuade a judge to shut down the pipeline that they maintain threatens cultural sites, drinking water and religion.”
Natural Gas Intel notes, “[U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia] Judge James Boasberg still must act on cross complaints between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a summary judgment request.”
AP adds, “The legal battle isn’t confined to the Dakotas. In Iowa, the state chapter of the Sierra Club and a group of landowners are appealing a lawsuit challenging the pipeline to the Iowa Supreme Court. The crux of that dispute is whether the pipeline benefits the public in that state and whether the government was right to allow Energy Transfer Partners to use eminent domain to obtain land for the project.”
In terms of a timeline, the article notes, “The pipeline should be fully operational in about three weeks, according to company spokeswoman Vicki Granado.” It’s unclear when the U.S. District Court and Iowa Supreme Court rulings will be made.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is being built by Energy Transfer Partners and Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. The pipeline could carry up to 570,000 barrels per day of fracked oil from North Dakota to Illinois. It would cross 200 waterways, including the Missouri River and the Mississippi River.
The Council of Canadians first expressed its solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux in August 2016 and since then 14 chapters — in Regina, Chilliwack, Kent County, Montreal, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Prince Edward Island, Peterborough-Kawarthas, London, Victoria, Thunder Bay, Powell River, and Comox Valley — along with staff in Vancouver and Ottawa, have participated in solidarity actions.
#RezpectOurWater #NoDAPL #DakotaAccessPipeline
