Bold Iowa leader reacts to Dakota Access pipeline decision

A permit needed to finish an oil pipeline stretching across four states was denied by the administration of US president Barack Obama on Sunday.

After months of protest, federal officials say they will not grant permits for the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline to move forward.

“We expect the Corps to conduct a full oil-spill risk analysis for every river crossing along the entire route of the Dakota Access project”, Spivak said.

In a press release Sunday, the U.S. Army’s assistant secretary for civil works said the best way to complete the pipeline is to explore alternative routes for the crossing.

The company has said it already considered other routes but settled on the Lake Oahe route because it was the least environmentally risky. Dallas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners has denied that and said the pipeline will be safe. The agency says “it has no plans for forcible removal”, but anyone on land north of the river after the deadline will be trespassing and may be prosecuted.

Dakota Access Pipeline route; Standing Rock Indian Reservation is shown in orange. However, the US later took the land back, and offered money to the tribe – money the Sioux still have not accepted.

Energy Transfer spokeswoman Vicki Granado didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail for comment.

Archambault’s directive was rejected by many long-term water protectors, however, as the camps hunkered down amid a fierce blizzard. Many Dakota Access oil pipeline opponents who’ve gathered for months in a camp in southern North Dakota are committed to staying despite wintry weather and demands that they leave.

In a post to Young’s Facebook page, the iconic rocker asked what Obama will do if the project developers decide to move ahead despite the Army Corps’ decree.

“It was just tremendous to bring that momentum back here”, she said.

Archambault argued that it would not attempt to drill without the permit, known as an easement, because it would jeopardize the company’s investments. “This is a comprehension we haven’t seen before from the American side”, she says.

Many remained at the camp overnight, according to Jade Begay, of Tesuque, New Mexico, who said she stayed in a yurt heated by a wood stove and had to fix a roof panel that was blown off the tent-like structure.

But the Army Corps of Engineers isn’t concerned with feasibility. They say more study is needed, and add that the process needs to have more tribal and public participation.

As a veteran himself, LaFountaine said he would still be in North Dakota right now if it weren’t for a heart attack he had a few days ago.

Sunday’s developments have shocked the oil industry.

Did you feel like that was a waste of time at all, to get there and it’s all over? .

A spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump also said the administration supports the project and could reverse the decision once in office. Organizers said at least 17 protesters were taken to the hospital, some for hypothermia and one with a serious arm injury.