Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the company that bit off more than it could chew in attempting a failed merger with Tulsa-based Williams Companies finds itself the target of a growing Native American protest of a pipeline project in North Dakota.
A protest camp is growing in Cannon Ball, North Dakota where protesters, mostly made up of members of the Standing rock Sioux Tribe are fighting the company’s 1,172-mile Dakota Access pipeline that is targeted to carry Bakken oil to Illinois.
They had hoped a federal judge last week would have issued an injunction against some of the construction but the judge indicated a decision might not come for another two weeks. More than 1,200 people had gathered as of last week in the mostly Native American camp as they had hoped for a decision from U.S. District Court Judge Judge James Boasberg. The gathering is at Sacred Stone Camp about four miles north of Cannon Ball and is made up of trailers, teepees and tents.
Environmentalists including actress Susan Sarandon had joined their effort with a 300-strong protest in Washington D.C. The lawsuit had been filed by the Standing Rock tribe, claiming the pipeline is in violation of the Clean Water Act and other federal laws.
Judge Boasberg is expected to have a rule by Sept. 9.
Energy Transfer has also encountered opposition in the state of Iowa where the pipeline is located. Fifteen landowners there filed suit last week, prompting the state to order a halt to construction in Iowa before regulators decided to allow work to continue.
The $3.8 billion line is designed to carry 450,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil a day from North Dakota to Illinois where it will then be moved to refineries along the Gulf Coast. It crosses the Missouri River near the community of Cannon Ball on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Tribal members contend any pipeline spill would contaminate the river. However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a crossing of the river in July, prompting the lawsuit to be filed by activists.