While a federal judge in Iowa denied a request by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners to force a halt to protests of its controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, an activist on Wednesday chained himself to heavy machinery at the pipeline construction site.
The Native American activist took the action as the judge in Des Moines refused to block protests and issue a temporary restraining order.
Dakota Access Pipeline is a subsidiary of ETP, the company that unsuccessfully tried to merge with Tulsa-based Williams Cos.
Its proposed nearly $4 billion pipeline has been fought by activists for the past two years. The 1,172-pipeline will carry Bakken crude from North Dakota to a transfer station in Illinois where it will be pumped to Gulf Coast refineries.
Dakota Access attorneys argued the protests and acts of civil disobedience by such groups as Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Bold Iowa “represent a risk to the physical safety of Dakota Access employees and representatives and the protesters.”
But Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger disagreed and rejected the company’s motion on the grounds that “Dakota Access was seeking a ‘extraordinary and drastic remedy’ that should only be issued in exceptional circumstances.” However, she also scheduled a hearing for Friday to consider the company’s request for a preliminary injection to restrict the activists.
