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href="https://www.theindigenousamericans.com/2017/10/17/victory-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-court-finds-approval-dakota-access-pipeline-violated-law-2/">https://www.theindigenousamericans.com/2017/10/17/victory-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-court-finds-approval-dakota-access-pipeline-violated-law-2/</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">In Victory for Standing Rock Sioux Tribe,
Court Finds That Approval of Dakota Access Pipeline Violated
the Law</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">By
theindigenousamericans_6i2sru - October 17, 2017<br>
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<p>The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a significant victory
today in its fight to protect the Tribe’s drinking water
and ancestral lands from the Dakota Access pipeline.</p>
<p>A federal judge ruled that the federal permits
authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River
just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, which
were hastily issued by the Trump administration just
days after the inauguration, violated the law in certain
critical respects.</p>
<p>In a 91-page decision, Judge James Boasberg wrote, “the
Court agrees that [the Corps] did not adequately
consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights,
hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree
to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly
controversial.”</p>
<p>The Court did not determine whether pipeline operations
should be shut off and has requested additional briefing
on the subject and a status conference next week.</p>
<p>“This is a major victory for the Tribe and we commend
the courts for upholding the law and doing the right
thing,” <strong>said Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave
Archambault II in a recent statement.</strong> “The
previous administration painstakingly considered the
impacts of this pipeline, and President Trump hastily
dismissed these careful environmental considerations in
favor of political and personal interests.</p>
<p>We applaud the courts for protecting our laws and
regulations from undue political influence and will ask
the Court to shut down pipeline operations immediately.”</p>
<p>The Tribe’s inspiring and courageous fight has
attracted international attention and drawn the support
of hundreds of tribes around the nation.</p>
<p>The Tribe is represented by the nonprofit environmental
law firm Earthjustice, which filed a lawsuit challenging
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for issuing a permit
for the pipeline construction in violation of several
environmental laws.</p>
<p>“This decision marks an important turning point. Until
now, the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have
been disregarded by the builders of the Dakota Access
Pipeline and the Trump administration—prompting a
well-deserved global outcry,”<strong> said Earthjustice
attorney Jan Hasselman</strong>. “The federal courts
have stepped in where our political systems have failed
to protect the rights of Native communities.”</p>
<p>The Court ruled against the Tribe on several other
issues, finding that the reversal allowing the pipeline
complied with the law in some respects.</p>
<p>The $3.8 billion pipeline project, also known as Bakken
Oil Pipeline, extends 1,168 miles across North Dakota,
South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, crossing through
communities, farms, tribal land, sensitive natural areas
and wildlife habitat. The pipeline would carry up to
570,000 barrels a day of crude oil from the Bakken oil
fields in North Dakota to Illinois where it links with
another pipeline that will transport the oil to
terminals and refineries along the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
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