By David Mack<\/p>\n
The US Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday announced they will no longer allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a river near the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota. This marks a huge win for Native Americans and protesters who had long opposed the construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline,\u201d Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a statement<\/a> sent to BuzzFeed News. \u201cInstead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt took tremendous courage to take a new approach to our nation-to-nation relationship, and we will be forever grateful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Assistant Army Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate pipeline routes.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it\u2019s clear that there\u2019s more work to do,\u201d Darcy said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.\u201d<\/p>\n Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, released a statement saying it was still committed to building under the river.<\/p>\n \u201cThe White House\u2019s directive today to the Corps for further delay is just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n Since August, thousands of demonstrators have camped at the Standing Rock site to stand with Native Americans in opposing the 1,172-mile pipeline, which is designed to carry 20 million gallons of oil across the Midwest every day.<\/p>\n Tribe members and environmentalists feared damage to local water supplies and the desecration of sacred land.<\/p>\n They argued in court<\/a> that the pipeline \u201ccrosses areas of great historical and cultural significance\u201d and \u201ccrosses waters of utmost cultural, spiritual, ecological, and economic significance.\u201d<\/p>\n The tribe successfully mobilized national support, with demonstrators marching in Washington, DC,<\/a> and elsewhere to pressure the government to abandon the construction.<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s decision represents a huge win for the local tribe and their supporters, as well as a dramatic shift in the reaction of authorities, who had previously ordered all demonstrators to leave the campsite by Monday.<\/p>\n North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer, a Republican who supported the pipeline\u2019s construction, said \u201ctoday\u2019s unfortunate decision sends a very chilling signal to others who want to build infrastructure in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRoads, bridges, transmission lines, pipelines, wind farms, and water lines will be very difficult, if not impossible, to build when criminal behavior is rewarded this way\u201d he said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s governor, Jack Dalrymple, also slammed the announcement as \u201ca serious mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt does nothing to resolve the issue, and worst of all it prolongs the serious problems faced by North Dakota law enforcement as they try to maintain public safety,\u201d Gov. Dalrymple said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe administration\u2019s lack of action also prolongs the dangerous situation of having protesters camping during the winter on US Army Corps of Engineers\u2019 property.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that this project has become a political issue rather than one based on engineering science,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n