MAIN coalition spox Craig Stevens issued the following statement ahead of Judge Boasberg’s decision

ByClient Editor

As we await Judge Boasberg’s decision today on the temporary injunction that may halt construction on a portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline, I want to remind you of a few key facts:

  • Significant consultation took place with the tribal community throughout the process, and their input was reflected in the final route.
    • 389 meetings took place between the U.S. Army Corps and 55 tribes about the Dakota Access project.
    • The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe met directly with the U.S. Army Corps nearly a dozen times to discuss archaeological and other surveys conducted to finalize the Dakota Access route.
    • Based on input from a number of sources, the pipeline route was adjusted in September 2014 to shorten the pipeline by 11 miles, avoid buildings and other structures, and cross fewer waterways and roads.
    • ALSO, project leaders participated in 559 meetings with community leaders, elected officials, and organizations in areas surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline.
    • 43 open houses, public meetings, and regulatory hearings were held throughout 4 states to receive public input.
  • The route has been in place for two years, and the section currently being protested is on private land and is part of a pre-existing energy corridor that has had electricity transmission lines and the Northern Border natural gas pipeline.
    • This pipeline does not run through the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s reservation.
    • 100 percent of the landowners in North Dakota agreed to construction on their property.
    • All requisite permits were filed and approved.
    • Concerns about the pipeline’s impact on the local water supply are unfounded.
    • In North Dakota, the Missouri River has at least 8 pipelines that already cross it safely carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude product every day.
    • The tribe’s water intake is scheduled to be moved by the end by of the year to about 70 miles south of the planned Dakota Access river crossing.
    • Once operational the Dakota Access Pipeline would be among the safest, most technologically advanced pipelines in the world.
  • There have been multiple archaeological studies of the corridor and no sacred items were found. 
    • If they turn up, trained archaeologists are on site during construction.
    • State archeologists have been on top of this the whole time and “issued a ‘no significant sites affected’ determination in February on the North Dakota segment of the pipeline.
    • State archeologists are heading back out to the site, but believe “due diligence under existing regulatory law and regulation was done”.
  • Based on the understandable belief that it is doing everything right, the pipeline company has already spent $1.4 billion to develop the pipeline corridor.