The Dakota Access Pipeline under construction in South Dakota (Photo: Lars Plougmann via Flickr/CC)
The backers of the Dakota Access oil pipeline lack a key easement to complete construction. The Bismark Tribune reports Army Corps of Engineers officials confirm Energy Transfer Partners does not have a written easement to build on Corps property. A Corps spokesman tells the paper the agency issued permission for the easement to be written, but that is still under review. The Des Moines Register reports the pipeline is nearly a quarter of the way built in that state.
Meanwhile Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the other tribal nations fighting construction of the oil pipeline. The former presidential candidate compared the 3.7-billion dollar pipeline to the failed Keystone XL pipeline proposal, which he also opposed. Sanders says the U.S. needs to find more renewable sources of energy, rather than oil derived from fracking.
Nearly 90 tribal nations have declared their support to those working to halt the pipeline since the Army Corps cleared construction of the 1,100-mile pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois. Hundreds of people from all over the country are gathered just outside the Standing Rock Reservation in opposition to the start of construction there. A federal judge is expected to rule within the next two weeks on Standing Rock’s request for an injunction against the pipeline plan on procedural grounds. The pipeline company, Dakota Access LLC, also won a temporary restraining order against Standing Rock officials and other protesters.
Sounds like Selma to me. Remember, Selma galvanized the nation to pass a voting rights bill. It marked the low point in state sponsored racial discrimination. Let’s make sure that Standing Rock becomes as significant in the history of the fight against oil and gas terrorism.