21st Century Wire says…
A request by Native American tribes seeking to halt the construction of the final link in the highly politicized and controversial Dakota Access Pipeline has been declined by a federal judge in Washington DC.
The tribes at Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux were not successful in claiming that the project will prevent them from conducting religious ceremonies at Oahe Lake but District Court Judge James Boasberg declined their request citing no imminent harm to the tribes’ practices could be shown.
As noted by RT and AP below, the project is headed up by Energy Transfer Partners, who’s representatives argued that this halt in construction request over the issue of preventing tribes’ religious ceremonies was ‘exceedingly tardy’ and ‘not construction related.” The denial of this request is not coming as a surprise to many who are well aware that the DAPL project was more than 90% complete back when Obama signed a temporary hold on the project, which could have been largely a political move, leaving this issue for the Trump administration to handle.
RT
A federal judge in Washington, DC has dismissed a request by a group of Native American tribes seeking to stop construction of the final link of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.
Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes claimed the project will prevent them from practicing religious ceremonies at Oahe Lake which they say is surrounded by sacred ground. District Court Judge James Boasberg stated there was no imminent harm to the tribes’ religious practices as oil is not flowing through the pipeline yet.
The ruling will allow Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the $3.8 billion, 1,170 mile pipeline, to finish the final 1,100ft (335m) connection under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, completing the project.
The company’s stock rose 0.3 percent after the announcement, according to Seeking Alpha.
Boasberg will more thoroughly consider the request at a February 27 hearing, AP reported.
The US Army Corp of Engineers filed documents favoring Energy Transfer Partners, having granted the final easement for DAPL last Tuesday. The Corps said that the tribes will have plenty of time to argue their case before the pipeline begins working, thus a work stoppage wasn’t warranted.
Energy Transfer Partners had argued that the tribes’ argument that the work threatened their religion was “exceedingly tardy” and “not construction-related,” AP reported.
The decision allows construction on DAPL to continue while the lawsuits against the project to proceed.
Boasberg previously rejected a request by tribes to block the project in September. However, that ruling was superseded by the Obama administration’s decision in December to delay construction, pending an environmental review.
However, one of President Donald Trump’s first acts in office was to sign a presidential memoranda ordering the removal of obstacles to the construction of both the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL…
Continue this report at RT
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