Could the federal government’s handling of the protest by Native Americans of the $4 billion Dakota Access Pipeline be a sign of things to come in the remaining months of the Obama administration? Oklahomans are among those who joined other Indians in North Dakota in fighting the four-state pipeline that a federal judge initially refused to block last week.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s move to halt construction, prompting three federal agencies to immediately step in and appeal to Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partner to “voluntarily pause’ work on the segment that the tribe contends holds sacred sites and artifacts.
The Departments of Justice, Army and Interior also said afterward that in the future, they would “reconsider any of its previous decisions’ on land that borders or is under Lake Oahe, one of six reservoirs on the Missouri River. It is also the drinking water source for the Standing rock Sioux Reservation.
The Associated Press quoted Troy Eid, a former U.S. Attorney in Colorado as calling the action “unprecedented” and “a significant setback” for the builders of the pipeline.
He also said the lack of tribal consultation on the Dakota Access pipeline “is a textbook example of how not to do a project.”
