Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Cyril Scott, in black shirt, and other tribal activists at the spirit camp in South Dakota. Gary Dorr is in green on the far left. Photo from Shielding the People / Facebook

Tribes and tribal activists in South Dakota are challenging a permit for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

TransCanada received a conditional permit from South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in February 2010. But since construction did not begin within four years the company must be re-certified.

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Yankton Sioux Tribe, the Indigenous Environmental Network, the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy and Dakota Rural Action are among those challenging the certification. So are individual tribal members who live near the route and who use lands that will be affected by the pipeline.

"It's a difficult path, but it's a commitment and that's what Keystone and the federal government needs to know, that the people are here," Gary Dorr, a member of the Nez Perce Tribe who is objecting to the certification, told KELO. " This was started as a prayer and the people that are walking here are still holding those prayers. And that's what we're committed to."

Dorr is part of a spiritual camp organized by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The camp is near the pipeline route.

Get the Story:
Keystone oil pipeline permit is up for grabs to cross South Dakota (The Black Hills Pioneer 12/10)
Both sides appeased by limits on SD Keystone case (AP 12/10)
South Dakota PUC holds pipeline hearing (KSFY 12/9)
Protesting The Pipeline (KELO 12/8)

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