Environment | Law | National

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe seeks halt to construction of pipeline

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Youth from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe express their opposition to the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. Photo from Facebook

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is asking the Iowa Utilities Board to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Dakota Access LLC is due to start work next week on the Iowa portion of the 1,100-mile oil pipeline, The Des Moines Register reported. But the tribe said significant legal and regulatory questions have been raised about the project, which still needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"A spill or leak at the crossing would disable the reservation’s sole drinking water intake, and would cause extreme economic, environmental, and cultural harm to the tribe," a brief filed on Thursday reads.

The tribe has met with the Army Corps in hopes of convincing that agency to withhold approval. The tribe also established the Iŋyaŋ Wakȟáŋaǧapi Othí, or Sacred Rock Camp, to raise awareness of the cultural, environmental and other impacts of the pipeline.

The $3.8 billion pipeline would start in the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota and cross South Dakota before entering Iowa and ending in Illinois.

Get the Story:
Sioux tribe trying to block Iowa pipeline construction (The Des Moines Register 5/12)
Justice League Stars Protest Dakota Access Pipeline, Support Standing Rock Sioux (Indian Country Today 5/9)