Victory by Dakota pipeline protesters may be short-lived

But now, after eight months of protesting the pipeline either in person or in spirit, some OU students are breathing a sigh of relief and preparing for whatever comes next.

A Kamloops man is among thousands of people who are still gathered at Standing Rock, the Sioux reservation in the US where protestors have camped for months against a crude oil pipeline in North Dakota.

While most of America is wrapped up in the ensuing controversy from the impending Donald Trump presidency, a fierce battle between the corporate construction entity Energy Transfer Partners and the Standing Rock Sioux Native Americans has been happening right under the country’s nose.

Protesters who have been camped near the pipeline route for months have praised the decision.

On Monday, tribal leaders and hundreds of veterans walked to Backwater Bridge, one of the focal points of the protests, and offered prayers and chanted.

“The Obama administration has never guaranteed the water protectors or the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that they would use force to stop Dakota Access from drilling under the river without a permit, if necessary”, Sacred Stone Camp’s statement said.

Two industry groups are calling on Trump to pave the way for the pipeline’s completion when he enters the White House in January. The Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit to allow construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

A coalition of Native American groups, environmentalists, Hollywood stars and veterans of the US armed forces protested the $3.8 billion oil project.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Monday that the incoming president supports construction of the pipeline.

And for Ratcliff, this fight still isn’t done yet, saying the decision could be reversed by a Donald Trump administration.

A leak in the pipeline could be damaging to the environment and poison one of Standing Rock’s major drinking water sources, Cheray said.

In her statement, Darcy explained that her decision was “based. on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing”.

Energy transfer partners issued a statement following the decision, saying they were not going to give up, and that the oil company meant to complete the project without any additional rerouting, and that worries LaFountaine.

Mankato Resident Liz Ratcliff said, “We’re just familiar with the struggle that the Indigenous people have had to endure, that coupled with the environmental aspect of it just really called to me I guess”.

Pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners says the Army’s decision is politically motivated. “That’s the $50,000 question”, says Craig Stevens of the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now, a business and trade group that supports the pipeline. Federal Judge James Boasberg denied the tribe’s request in a lengthy opinion that highlighted how the Corps already went through all the appropriate processes to approve DAPL.

Throughout the summer and fall, members of the tribe have been joined by protesters from elsewhere.

“The Corps of Engineers is part of the Pentagon, which reports to the president – and so he and his appointees have the authority to make a different decision than Obama’s Corps of Engineers made”, Mannix said. Then came Sunday’s decision from the Army, which oversees the Corps.

The company responded by asking U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to declare that it has the right to lay pipe under Lake Oahe. The decision undoubtedly represents a significant victory for those gathered in North Dakota by the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, but the long struggle to block the pipeline remains far from over.

The chief executive of pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners, Kelcy Warren, donated to Trump’s campaign.