Dakota Access Pipeline Temporarily Halted In Response To Protests

dakota pipeline protestBy Derrick Broze

On Thursday construction of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline was temporarily halted near the Standing Sioux Reservation. 

Cannonball, North Dakota – After two weeks of protests and arrests at the site of construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, local law enforcement announced that the pipeline would be temporarily put on hold. In a press conference on Thursday, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirschmeier explained that the decision was related to safety concerns.

NPR Reports:

A spokesman for the company that is building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, told The Wall Street Journal that “construction has been halted at the protest site” ahead of a court hearing next Wednesday, but that “it continues elsewhere.”

In July, the environmental group Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, seeking an injunction against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which authorized the pipeline’s construction. “The construction and operation of the pipeline, as authorized by the Corps, threatens the Tribe’s environmental and economic well-being, and would damage and destroy sites of great historic, religious, and cultural significance to the tribe,” the lawsuit states.”

Last week protesters were arrested while attempting to block construction of the pipeline. The protesters have come from all around the country in support of the Sacred Stone Camp, which formed in response to the Army Corps of Engineers granting approval permits for construction. The growing protests led North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple to issue an emergency declaration for southwest and south central North Dakota.

The protesters, or protectors as they refer to themselves, are concerned that the pipeline will inevitably have accidental spills which will poison the local water supply. The project is set to cross the Missouri River not far from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The DAPL, alternatively known as the Bakken Pipeline, is owned by Houston, Texas based corporation Energy Transfer Partners, L.P., which created the subsidiary Dakota Access LLC.  The pipeline will stretch 1,172 miles upon completion and transport crude oil from the Bakken fields of North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois.

In response to the protesters concerns, Dakota Access LLC said the pipeline would include safety measures such as “leak detection equipment, and workers monitoring the pipeline remotely in Texas could close block valves on it within three minutes if a breach is detected.”

As The Bismarck Tribune reported, “Dakota Access LLC, a partner of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, countered the Standing Rock lawsuit earlier this week by filing a lawsuit against several protesters, alleging threats to the safety of construction workers and law enforcement.” The media has attempted to paint the protectors as violent and made allegations about the presence of pipe bombs. The allegations have not been confirmed and have been adamantly denied by the Sacred Stone Camp.

Despite the temporary halting of activity near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, construction on the Dakota Access pipeline continues elsewhere. As of Saturday afternoon the Sacred Stone Camp was still full of supporters from different nations across the United States. The organization “Up To Us” is also calling for supporters to attend the injunction hearing in Washington D.C. on August 24. The hearing takes place at the U.S. District Court at 333 Constitution Avenue NW in D.C. from 1 to 5 pm.

Stay tuned to Activist Post for updates on the protests and the hearing. I will be reporting live from the Sacred Stone Camp from August 22 to 25.

Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of two books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion.

Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact [email protected]

This article may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link.

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23 Comments on "Dakota Access Pipeline Temporarily Halted In Response To Protests"

  1. The Indigenous/Native American Holocaust marches on – all for the ever uncontrollable greed of the ZioNazis, towards their satanist Lucifer’s NWO!

  2. I see no mention of whose the land the pipeline will access, so I have to assume it doesn’t belong to any tribe. Therefore this group’s lawsuit is weak and easily dismissed.
    As an ETP stockholder, I commend the company for skillfully managing this disruption and protecting our investment from unproductive, trouble making pagans.

    • So you are labelling anyone resisting your corporate greed as ‘pagan’! You need to be civilized!

      • They “owned the land?” Where are their deeds proving such?? ….”Corporate greed” for just wanting to move their product to market? I guess you prefer rail cars that crash and explode.
        You’re just another bitter, ignorant, useless, human hating, bitty who blames their personal failures on others. No “real human being” is as unproductive and hateful as YOU.

        • “Where are their deeds proving such??” That is just sad.
          You, Roger Young, are just another Capitalist Sociopath.

        • You sound like a sociopath juvenile that needs to be locked up for good for trying to erase the history, rights and identity of the original Indigenous owners of North America! How do you sleep with all your evil racist/fascist greedy corporate self, you mooron?!

    • “Trouble Making Pagans”
      That is a Title of Honor.

      And you ain’t seen nothing yet, You greedy corporate wall-street Industrial war loving capitalists- You and yours-your time is coming.

  3. Every inch of American soil is of the Natives, it is their birth right which the Europeans took from them with force and murder and I am ashamed to be European descendant.

    • Look man. You can’t change the past. None of yall/us/them can change anything about it. Yes, my ancestors assimilated on our own land and took on Spanish surnames, the ones that didn’t fight. But if it wasn’t for your ancestors and the rest of the European ancestry coming here I wouldn’t have my American-Swedish wife and 4 yr old son. So thanks for coming! Now drink a beer and enjoy life bro! Way too much heartache around….peace

  4. I wonder if the people that blindly oppose pipeline projects feel “hypocritical” every time they put gasoline in their car. Do they think that gasoline just “magically” appears at the pump; with no exploration, drilling, processing, refining, and with transportation required in every step of supplying this fuel. Or if they realize that almost “every” product they purchase, contains a transportation component associated with supplying that product. Do they not realize that America is required to purchase over 20-million barrels of oil a day from foreign countries to meet America’s demand for fuel, to keep our country operating and our economy strong.

    The US currently consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil per day “over” what is currently being produced in America. America currently has over 2 million miles of “safely functioning” pipelines as a part of our essential infrastructure. Oil has to be moved once it is pumped. If not by pipeline, our only choices are over-the-road trucking, and/or rail. Both of these methods result in increased diesel air-pollution, increased costs, and increased potential for spills. Lets deal with facts, and not blind ignorant hysteria. Pipelines are the obvious intelligent choice, and necessary for our country!!!

  5. Hate the real truths and threatening me, do you?! Coward mooron!

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