Tribe files emergency request to stop Dakota Access Pipeline
By Holly Yan and Shawn Nottingham, CNN
(CNN)The battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline has intensified, with heated protests and an attempt for an emergency halt in construction.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed an emergency motion
Sunday for a temporary restraining order "to prevent further
destruction of the tribe's sacred sites by Dakota Access
Pipeline," it said.
"On Saturday, Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer
Partners brazenly used bulldozers to destroy our burial
sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts,"
Tribal Chairman David Archambault II said.
"They did this on a holiday weekend, one day after we filed
court papers identifying these sacred sites. The desecration
of these ancient places has already caused the Standing Rock
Sioux irreparable harm. We're asking the court to halt this
path of destruction."
The pipeline's developer,
Energy Transfer Partners, has defended the $3.7 billion
project, saying it would help the United States become less
dependent on importing energy from unstable regions of the
world.
What the tribe wants
The tribe wants to halt further construction on an area
2 miles west of North Dakota Highway 1806, near Lake
Oahe, until a judge rules on its previous motion to stop
construction, the tribe said.
That motion is based on the plaintiffs' claim that it
was not properly consulted before the US Army Corps of
Engineers approved the pipeline project, which would run
from North Dakota to South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
A US district court judge is expected to make a decision
on the case by Friday. The Army Corps of Engineers has
declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Thousands of people from more than 200 Native American
tribes have supported the Standing Rock Sioux's efforts
to protect their lands, waters and sacred sites during
construction of the 1,200-mile pipeline, the tribe said.
What the pipeline would do
If completed, the 1,172-mile pipeline would carry
470,000 barrels of crude oil a day from North Dakota to
Illinois.
Energy Transfer said the pipeline would bring an
estimated $156 million in sales and income taxes to
state and local governments. It would also add 8,000 to
12,000 construction jobs, the developer said.
But about 30 environmental groups, including the Sierra
Club and Greenpeace, have
slammed the pipeline project, calling it "yet
another example of an oil pipeline project being
permitted without public engagement or sufficient
environmental review."'
Protesters are also worried that digging the pipeline
under the Missouri River could affect the drinking water
supply if the pipeline breaks.
Sheriff: Protests turned violent
Protests against the pipeline turned violent in North
Dakota over the weekend, with some demonstrators
breaking down a wire fence and trespassing onto a
construction area, the Morton County Sheriff's
Department said.
"Protesters physically assaulted private security
officers hired by Dakota Access Pipeline. The security
officers were hit and jabbed with fence posts and
flagpoles," the sheriff's department said.
"According to several reports from security officers,
knives were pulled on them or they witnessed protestors
with large knives." The sheriff's department also said
two guard dogs were injured.
But protesters disputed the authorities' account,
CNN affiliate KFYR said. Demonstrators said the
guards sprayed many of the activists with pepper spray
and tear gas, and some protesters were injured by the
guards' dogs.
"It was kind of scary," Lonnie Favel told KFYR. "A lot
of people are out here with their children. Accidents
happen all the time with dogs, and people could really
get hurt."
CNN's Madison Park, Khushbu Shah and Alberto Moya contributed to this report.
© 2016 Cable News Network.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.