Environment | Law | National | Politics

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe focuses on Dakota Access battles as President Trump takes office

Monday, January 23, 2017

An electronic billboard in Times Square in New York City promotes #DefundDAPL, a campaign to divest the Dakota Access Pipeline of its funding sources. Photo by Indianz.Com / Available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

The largest #NoDAPL encampment is making plans to leave North Dakota as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe focuses on the legal and political fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Camp residents had been in talks with tribal leaders about moving Oceti Sakowin to the reservation in order to avoid expected flooding in the spring. But representatives from the Cannonball District voiced concerns about the presence of a large group of people in their community, prompting the council to reject the proposed relocation.

"Councilmen from across the reservation, including Cannonball, described the hardships and strain on the citizens and resources of our nation," the tribe said in a statement posted on Facebook on Saturday.

Organizers of the camp, which is located on federally-managed property near the Cannonball District, immediately heeded the directive and announced plans to evacuate "as soon as possible." Those remaining on site are being asked to help clean up an area that saw as many as 12,000 residents, visitors and supporters pass through since last summer.

"We are calling you warriors to go in a good way now, and if you have the spirit to fight, turn it to clearing and cleaning the land we have defended, for the sacred act of protecting these waters from the materials left here," the camp said in a statement.

The tribe's action doesn't appear to affect the Sacred Stone Camp, which is located on land owned by LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a Standing Rock citizen. She said people living on her property will remain as long as the pipeline remains a threat.

"We stand for the water, we stand for healing, we will not back down until our people have healed from the abuse of this world that healing comes from the water," Allard said on Monday as she vowed to maintain the camp until the pipeline is officially defeated.

Allard started the camp in April 2016 with just a handful of residents but with the help of youth and allies on social media, the #NoDAPL movement grew into an international cause in just a few months. The unprecedented level of support prompted the Obama administration to delay the controversial project amid concerns about sacred sites, burial grounds and water resources.

A portion of the 1,172-mile pipeline runs through land that was promised to the Sioux Nation by treaty and Allard's ancestors and family members are among those who are buried within the corridor. The tribe's former historic preservation officer identified significant cultural sites in the area but most of those properties, which are now held by non-Indians, have already been bulldozed by Dakota Access construction crews.

As a result, the firm has all but completed the pipeline except for the crossing at Lake Oahe along the Missouri River, less a half-mile from the Standing Rock reservation border. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers never issued a formal easement for the wealthy backers of the project to build on federally-managed land near the #NoDAPL campsites.

The Department of the Army has since taken the lead on the matter and has initiated an environmental review of the pipeline crossing near Standing Rock. Public comments are now being solicited and meetings are expected in North Dakota as part of the process.

"The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is grateful to all who have stood with us during our efforts to secure a thorough review of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Because we worked together, the federal government will prepare an environmental impact statement," the tribe's statement on Saturday read. "Moving forward, our ultimate objective is best served by our elected officials, navigating strategically through the administrative and legal processes."

The administrative front includes ensuring that Republican President Donald Trump, who was sworn into office on Friday, does not stop the environmental impact statement, or EIS. His new team, which includes a paid backer of the pipeline supports completion of the project, according to a spokesperson for the greatagain.gov transition.

It would be difficult, though not impossible, for the Trump administration to pull back the EIS. If that happens, it could open a new front in the ongoing #NoDAPL litigation in federal court.

Dakota Access made a last-minute attempt to block the publication of an important government notice that announced the EIS. But a federal judge rejected the attempt and the document appeared in the Federal Register as scheduled last Wednesday, two days before Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

Trump has embraced large-scale infrastructure projects like Dakota Access and vowed to put Americans to work across the nation during his inaugural address on Friday.

"We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation," Trump said in his remarks as the U.S. Capitol. "We will get our people off of welfare and back to work – rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor."

Regardless of the path Trump takes, Dakota Access insists it has already been granted approval to finish the pipeline. A federal judge is expected to convene a hearing in February for arguments on the firm's cross-claim regarding the easement at Lake Oahe. A decision could take weeks or longer but there is no timeline for action.

Before Trump came on board, the Department of Justice filed papers dismiss the cross-claim. So did the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which has intervened as part of the ongoing lawsuit.

The two tribes are preparing for additional legal actions in the event the Judge James E. Boasberg allows construction at Lake Oahe. And the firm is expected to fight if the decision doesn't go its way.

The lawsuit already made one trip to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals as the tribe sought to halt construction on culturally significant sites. With the work all but finished in those areas, that legal battle is effectively over.

The D.C. Circuit in fact dismissed the appeal in an order on Thursday but opened a different door for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. At issue is the Judge Boasberg's September 9, 2016, decision that denied the tribe's request for a preliminary injunction. The higher court said the tribe can seek to have that decision vacated, or removed from the record.

Federal Register Notice:
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in Connection With Dakota Access, LLC's Request for an Easement To Cross Lake Oahe, North Dakota (January 18, 2017)