Iowa pipeline delay denied; 300 protest up north

Dakota Access Pipeline opponents prepared Thursday to continue camping near the Missouri and Cannonball rivers while legal groups said they’re looking for new ways to challenge the pipeline. They should be out of options. But Dakota Access lawyers said in documents filed with the board that construction crews have already cleared land on about three-fourths of the Iowa pipeline route and grading has been accomplished on about half of the route, including the separation of topsoil.

Still pending, is Earthjustice’s Sioux Tribe lawsuit and a request for a preliminary injunction to block construction of the pipeline. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

However, a separate case is pending in federal court in Washington, D.C., in which a judge is expected to rule by September 9 on a request for an injunction by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to stop the pipeline project.

The permits for the Dakota Access project were granted using the USACE “nationwide permit 12”, a fast track permitting process that has allowed the oil and gas industry to build numerous fossil fuel pipelines across the country, even on private property, without project-specific environmental review or public input process, the environmental groups contend.

Angela Bevans, an assistant attorney with Sioux background, told the Guardian on Thursday that “a$3 ny delay is a win for us, it will give Dakota Access pause and it puts word out that Standing Rock still needs assistance on this”. It would traverse North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa, before eventually stopping in IL.

The landowners have filed a lawsuit that challenges the board’s authority to allow eminent domain of their land for a privately owned pipeline project. Much of the oil leaving North Dakota now does so by rail, a transport method also under scrutiny because of deadly derailments in past years. Actors Susan Sarandon, Riley Keough and Shailene Woodley joined members of North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Tribe outside a courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to protest against construction of a pipeline they say would pollute water and desecrate sacred land.

Amnesty International is concerned about whether the traffic barricade on State Highway 1806 north of the demonstration site is necessary for safety or whether it’s created to deter protesters, Demant said.

The board concluded landowners have little likelihood of success in their court case and that Dakota Access would be financially harmed by construction delays, Chairwoman Geri Huser said.

Outside of regulatory agencies and courtrooms, activists opposed to the pipeline in Iowa say they plan to step up their fight. On Wednesday, a North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper observed a vehicle parked in the middle of the road near the construction site, Preskey said. Ed Fallon, a former state legislator from Des Moines and an anti-pipeline leader, said protesters intend to engage in civil disobedience Wednesday at a yet-to-be-announced site in rural Boone County, where construction on the pipeline is underway.