Standing Rock, Indian Country, score big court victory against DAPL

From protest for sending Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies to Standing Rock.

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has to shut down by Aug. 5 and the pipeline emptied of oil until the project’s environmental impact statement is finished and treaty rights and other environmental challenges are resolved, according to a court ruling today. According to the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia:

Fearing severe environmental consequences, American Indian Tribes on nearby reservations have sought for several years to invalidate federal permits allowing the Dakota Access Pipeline to carry oil under the lake [Lake Oahe]. Today they finally achieve that goal — at least for the time being.

Depending on the results of a pending environmental impact statement, DAPL could be forced to shut down permanently.

Energy Transfer, a leading partner in DAPL, criticized the ruling and vowed to challenge it. The company faces problems on second front, as oil firms are trying to back out of commitments they made to ship oil on a proposed DAPL expansion.

Secret DAPL Analysis Withheld from Tribes: Government Memo Spotlights Flawed Process

In the waning days of the Obama administration, the top lawyer for the U.S. Department of Interior wrote about significant flaws in the permitting process for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) easement under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe. The government had not honored federal trust responsibilities to consult with Native nations. Worse, the government had kept key environmental analysis secret, unavailable for review by Native nations and the general public. Worse yet, some of the analysis was simply inaccurate — and since it was secret it couldn’t be challenged.

The 38-page memo is from Hilary Tompkins, the Department of Interior’s solicitor, to the Secretary. The conclusion is this:

[T]here is ample legal justification for the Corps to exercise its discretion to suspend or revoke the existing Section 408 permit and/or postpone a decision on the proposed easement conditional on additional analysis
and government-to-government consultation concerning the tribal-specific issues discussed in this Memorandum … If the Corps ultimately does decide to authorize the easement, additional tribal consultation is necessary to develop conditions for the authorization that will protect the Tribes’ rights and interests in and around Lake Oahe. (page 35)

Disturbingly, the Dec. 4 memo details problems with the government’s process that until recently have been hidden.

DAPL Updates: Water Cannons Used Against Water Protectors; First DAPL Divestment; UN Critical of Excessive Police Response; ND Cancels Tribal Speech; and More

We have a backlog of updates to report on Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). (The blog didn’t get much attention the past few days as Healing Minnesota Stories was participating in an incredibly powerful three-day Bearing Witness Retreat, an interfaith event organized by Clouds in Water Zen Center. It witnessed to Minnesota’s participation in the Native American genocide.

Here are DAPL updates from the past few days:

• As tension escalates, a court decision on the pipeline might not come until 2017
• Under freezing conditions, law enforcement uses water cannons against water protectors
• Pressure on banks financing DAPL has first success
• U.N. Human Rights expert denounces abuse of free assembly rights
• North Dakota legislators cancel annual “State of the Tribes” address amid security concerns, damaging tribal relationships
• Scores arrested nationwide in DAPL protests
• Energy Transfer Partners CEO Can’t Promise Pipeline Won’t Leak
• Water is Life: Drought kills 102 million trees in California

Say a Prayer for the Water Protectors: President-Elect Trump a Likely DAPL Supporter

Efforts to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) have taken a sharp turn for the worse and the potential for more violent conflict has increased.

Say a prayer for the Water Protectors.