North Dakota regulators eye fine against pipeline company

The $3.8 billion project to carry Bakken crude to IL has been beset by protests, court fights and an extended review by the Obama administration since August. There are many things you, the average citizen, can do: sign the petition to tell President Obama to stop construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline permanently.

They also claim that with new and improved internal infrastructure (i.e. pipelines) our country could close the gap between the amount of oil we produce in the world, which is third, to the amount of oil we consume, where we come in at first place-something that probably has merit.

The 1,172-mile (1,885 km) pipeline would deliver oil from the Bakken shale of North Dakota to markets in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. They believe that much of the land the pipeline traverses, was guaranteed to the Tribe by the Treaties of Fort Laramie of 1851 and 1868, and was wrongfully wrested away thereafter, markedly diminishing their territory.

Critics point to the language of the law and express exasperation at the Corps’ interpretation of it. Protesters have been in action since the summer blocking the construction route and demonstrating against the project.

Tremmel said food, supplies, blankets and gloves are among the items the protesters most need in their fight for clean water.

The Corps, in response, pointed to its website, which states its goal in using this method is to reduce paperwork on projects that will have “minimal” impact on the environment. These people have been continuously ignored and disrespected by the Dakota Access Pipeline and its private security firm.

Environmental activists see the pipeline as a threat to Native American sacred spaces and to the Missouri River watershed.

“If we lose this battle, we lose our identity”, Tremmel said. “As long as it’s not under the river, I’m hopeful”.

There are exceptions, however.

The decision was a departure for Obama.

Now, however, Nationwide Permit 12 is stirring a new level of opposition.

The three were among 11 people arrested that day amid attempts to shut down oil pipelines in Washington, North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana in solidarity with those protesting the four-state Dakota Access pipeline project in North Dakota, said Jay O’Hara, a spokesman for the environmental activism group Climate Disobedience Center.

Last month Tk’emlups te Secwepemc, the local area of the Secwepemc nation, accepted $3 million in a mutual benefit agreement given by Kinder Morgan in order to expand the pipeline through their territory. Energy Transfer Partners said Tuesday that it had completed construction to the edge of Lake Oahe, the location of the federal land where regulators delayed construction to review permitting.

The Standing Rock controversy recently intensified as almost 4,000 people have gathered in North Dakota to help the Standing Rock Sioux protect the area from pipeline construction. The company says it moved construction so that artifacts were not disturbed.

Despite announcing today that he planned to send deputies to North Dakota to help with protests over a pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the Gallatin County sheriff said there was a “miscommunication” with the state and he is holding off.

Allen’s tribal community made their way down to Standing Rock in September after being asked to assist in a canoe protest, in which they protested down the Missouri River near Standing Rock. In the past, that seemed safe to do.

In a statement, when most Americans were following the keenly contested elections, Energy Transfer Partners had revealed it was prepping horizontal drilling equipment for burrowing under Lake Oahe.