U.S. to grant final permit for controversial Dakota pipeline - court filing

By Valerie Volcovici and Ernest Scheyder

REUTERS

 

A North Dakota National Guard vehicle idles on the outskirts of the Dakota Access oil pipeline protest camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., January 29, 2017. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester

 

WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army will grant the final permit for the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline after an order from President Donald Trump to expedite the project, despite opposition from Native American tribes and climate activists.

 

The protest against the $3.8 billion pipeline drew thousands of people to the North Dakota plains last year and attracted high-profile political and celebrity support.

 

The administration of former President Barack Obama delayed completion of the line pending a review of tribal concerns and last year ordered an environmental study.

 

But in a Tuesday filing in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., the U.S. Army, which oversees the Corps of Engineers in charge of permits for the project, said it would cancel the study and grant the final permit to tunnel under Lake Oahe, a reservoir that is part of the Missouri River, allowing completion of the line.

 

The permit could come in a day, according to the filing.

 

The Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation is adjacent to the line's route, will challenge the decision, the tribe said in a statement.

 

If the line was completed, the tribe would "seek to shut the pipeline operations down," and the environmental study was "wrongfully terminated," it said.

 

The Standing Rock Sioux had said the line would desecrate sacred sites and potentially pollute the tribe's water source.

 

Energy Transfer Partners <ETP.N> is building the 1,170-mile (1,885 km) line to pump crude from the shale oilfields of North Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, where many U.S. refineries are located.

 

The line could be operational in June if the permit comes quickly.

 

Shares of Energy Transfer Partners finished up 20 cents at $39.20, reversing earlier losses on the news.

 

(Reporting By Valerie Volcovici and Ernest Scheyder; additional reporting by Liz Hampton; Writing by David Gaffen and Simon Webb; editing by Diane Craft and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-02-08

So wrong.

7 hours ago, webfact said:

 

The Standing Rock Sioux had said the line would desecrate sacred sites and potentially pollute the tribe's water source.

Its called the sacrifice of a few for the benefit of many sorry not many big businesses only. Onward capitalism. Pack up your teepee's and go home my red brother you fought the good fight but the presidential pen did you in. 

Edited February 8, 20179 yr by elgordo38

I thought that the new route was to avoid sacred ground. Google isn't of any help to me here. If Thai PBS is to be believed, it's still an issue.

Should not be allowed to get a way with it!!   Its  wrong!  The Sioux are   right, it should be stopped