Cannon Ball, North Dakota: The Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday denied permission for the Dakota Access pipeline to cross under a section of the Missouri River, handing at least a temporary victory to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its supporters.
The decision came after months of protests by thousands of self-proclaimed “water protectors” — bolstered by the arrival of more than 2,000 US military veterans — who have opposed the pipeline out of concern that it could rupture and contaminate the river, which they say provides drinking water to the tribe and 17 million other Americans.
The pipeline is being built by Energy Transfer Partners, whose chief executive, Kelcy Warren, has said the company would not be willing to explore alternative routes.
The pipeline was nearly completed, save for the proposed section that would have passed underneath Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River. The Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit necessary for that section to be built.
The Corps said Sunday it would explore alternative routes and could initiate a more thorough and lengthy environmental analysis of potential risks posed by the $3.8 billion (Dh13.95 billion), 1,900-kilometre pipeline.
“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, said in a statement. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”
In a related memo, Darcy expanded on the Corps’ explanation for denying the permit. She cited policy by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which has said in the past that concerns about tribal resources and environmental justice should, in some cases, “heighten agency attention” to exploring alternative solutions for projects. She said the increased analysis she announced Sunday for the Dakota Access pipeline reflected such heightened attention.
Darcy also noted that some documents related to the planned pipeline, including studies examining the risk of an oil spill, had been withheld from the tribe in the past “because of security concerns and sensitivities.” The tribe has said repeatedly, including in court, that it was not properly consulted on the pipeline and that the pipeline’s risk had not been fully examined.
In recent months, thousands of people have set up camp on the edge of North Dakota’s Cannonball River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, vowing to place themselves in the way of the pipeline to block its construction.
Native Americans from across the country have joined the cause, as have environmental groups and celebrities.
As the news broke on Sunday, the main Seven Council Fires camp erupted in celebration. Pipeline opponents joined hands in a giant human chain around the camp. Victory and honour songs rang out as children, not entirely clear what the fuss was about, sledded down hillsides slick with a recent snow.
“Pretty darn good!” said Kandi Mossett of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “This is really big news. My immediate reaction is, this is a victory. But we must remain vigilant.”
Pipeline opponents are pushing for a full environmental impact statement, a process Mossett said would take three years and would effectively kill the project.
A range of environmental and indigenous rights groups celebrated the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision.
“Today, the voices of indigenous people were heard. The rights of a sovereign nation were respected,” Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defence Council, an environmental advocacy non-profit, said in a statement. “The Standing Rock Sioux and the myriad of indigenous communities by their side remind us all of the power of individuals to stand up and stand together to demand environmental justice.”
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault, who broke the news to gleeful throngs at the main camp, cautioned vigilance. Opponents worry that President-elect Donald Trump, who recently reiterated his support for the pipeline project, could reverse the Corps’ decision.
“A denial only gets us to January 20,” Mossett said.
Supporters of the pipeline attacked the decision.
“This purely political decision flies in the face of common sense and the rule of law,” Craig Stevens, a spokesman for MAIN Coalition, an industry group, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, it’s not surprising that the president would, again, use executive fiat in an attempt to enhance his legacy among the extreme left. That the president continues to believe that he is above the law is simply un-American, and it is this arrogance that working-class Americans soundly rejected on November 8. For millions of hard-working people across the heartland, January 20 cannot come soon enough.”
Stevens added: “With President-elect Trump set to take office in ... 47 days, we are hopeful that this is not the final word on the Dakota Access pipeline.”