the project.
Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia rejected the tribes' request for an
injunction to withdraw permission issued by the Army Corps for the last link of
the oil pipeline under Lake Oahe in North Dakota.
Energy Transfer
Partners LP (ETP.N) is building the $3.8 billion pipeline to move crude from
the Northern Plains to the Midwest and then on to the Gulf of Mexico.
The denial of
the injunction represents yet another setback to the tribes – the Standing Rock
Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux – that have been leading the charge against
the line, which runs adjacent to tribal territory in southern North Dakota.
The tribes had
argued that the pipeline would render water they use for religious ceremonies
spiritually impure even if the pipeline goes under Lake Oahe. They said the
pipeline was reminiscent of an ancient prophesy of a Black Snake that would
harm natives and that they could not use other water supplies in the region
because they had been polluted by decades of mining.
Boasberg said
in a written ruling that the Cheyenne tribe "remained silent as to the
Black Snake prophesy and its concerns about oil in the pipeline under Lake
Oahe" during two years of legal disputes against the line.
Chase Iron
Eyes, lead counsel for the Lakota People's Law Project said "it is simply
unacceptable that the government is allowing Energy Transfer Partners to build
this pipeline through our sacred lands." The water the pipeline threatens
supplies used by the Lakota and more than 17 million other people downstream,
he said.
The tribes had
won a reprieve from the Democratic Obama administration in early December, but
the victory was short-lived as Republican President Donald Trump signed an
executive order days after taking office on Jan. 20 that smoothed the path for
the last permit needed.
Energy
Transfer Partners needed only to cross beneath Lake Oahe, part of the Missouri
River system, to connect a final gap in the 1,170-mile (1,885-km) pipeline,
which will move oil from the Bakken shale formation to a terminus in Illinois.
The company
said in a filing late Monday that it plans to start pumping oil through a
section of the line under the Missouri River by the week of March 13.
Lisa
Dillinger, a spokeswoman for the pipeline, said the company was pleased with
Boasberg's decision and that it has "progressed quickly with the final
piece of construction."
FIGHT
CONTINUES
An oil analyst
said the pipeline would help slash transportation costs for producers in the
Bakken, one of their biggest expenses.
He predicted
that the ruling and the Trump administration's pro-oil stance could clear the
way for more pipelines. "If we're setting precedent where we're building
pipelines without real restrictions, I think this is a kickoff to what's going
to happen in the next few years,” said Carl Larry, president of Oil Outlooks
and Opinions.
Public
opposition to the pipeline drew thousands of people to the North Dakota plains
last year, including high-profile political and celebrity supporters, along
with veterans’ groups upset by the use of force by law enforcement.
After the
legal victory in December, Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault II
asked protesters to leave; the primary protest camp on federal land was
evacuated by mid-February, though substantial cleanup remains. The last
protesters burned structures as they left the camp.
Archambault
said that his tribe and its allies will continue to fight larger legal battles
in the case, including the legality of the permitting. The court will next
consider issues including the tribes' effort to stop the pipeline from
operating until the Army Corps completes an environmental impact assessment
that Trump's executive order cut short.
"The
fight against the pipeline has changed, but it continues with as much strength
as ever," Archambault said.
*REUTERS*
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