Chairman Harold Frazier of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe addresses a #NoDAPL rally outside of the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on August 24, 2016. Photo by Indianz.Com / More on Flickr
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe isn't giving up its fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline despite facing long odds in the courts. Oil has been placed in the final portion of the controversial pipeline and its wealthy backers are preparing to bring it into full service. But the tribe remains convinced it can stop the project. “My people are here today because we have survived in the face of the worst kind of challenges," Chairman Harold Frazier said on Monday. “The fact that oil is flowing under our life-giving waters is a blow, but it hasn’t broken us. Our legal fight is very much alive and we believe that ultimately we will prevail.” The Trump administration announced its approval the final portion of the pipeline on February 7 and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a formal easement to Dakota Access the following day. The firm quickly resumed construction activities at Lake Oahe in North Dakota and was able to complete work in about 49 days, much faster than anticipated. "Oil has been placed in the Dakota Access Pipeline underneath Lake Oahe," attorneys for the firm's wealthy backers wrote in a two-page status report on Monday evening. "Dakota Access is currently commissioning the full pipeline and is preparing to place the pipeline into service." As work was progressing, the tribe asked a federal judge to halt construction on the grounds that the mere presence of the pipeline in Lake Oahe renders the water impure for use in religious ceremonies like sweat lodges and coming of age rites. The request was denied but an appeal is pending before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The tribe also asked Judge James E. Boasberg to set aside the Trump administration's approval of the pipeline. The request is pending but a decision hasn't been reached. The pipeline runs underneath Lake Oahe, at a minimum of 95 feet below the surface of the Missouri. The pipe does not actually touch the waters in the river, the firm has repeatedly said in court and to the public. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe contend the Army Corps never considered the full impacts of the Lake Oahe crossing on their treaty rights, sacred sites and water resources. They had planned on addressing those issues through an environmental review of the pipeline that had been ordered in the final days of the Obama administration. The Trump team, however, canceled the environmental impact statement, or EIS, as it granted the easement to Dakota Access. The tribes argue that the actions violated federal laws, their treaties and the federal trust responsibility.
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