“Our Prayers Have Been Answered” – Army Corps Denies Route For Dakota Access Pipeline

Protesters Rejoice, But Trump Administration Could Overturn Decision

In a major victory for protesters and American Indians, the Army Corps of Engineers is halting work on the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAP) and denying the current route under the Missouri River in North Dakota. 

Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, announced the decision in a statement on the Army’s website. 

“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Darcy said. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”  

Several thousand protesters have spent weeks camped at a DAP construction site near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. They allege the pipeline would pollute drinking water and threaten sacred sites.  

Brian Cladoosby, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said in a statement that “our prayers have been answered,” according to CBS News. 

“This isn’t over, but it is enormously good news,” Cladoosby said. “All tribal peoples have prayed from the beginning for a peaceful solution, and this puts us back on track. From the start, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has asked for a full analysis to consider threats to the water and environment, and also the social and cultural impacts. Peace, prayer, and the water protectors have led to the right outcome.”

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said the tribe “ will be forever grateful to the Obama Administration for this historic decision,” ABC News reports. 

“We 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,” Archambault said in a statement.

Sally Jewell, secretary for the Interior, said the Corps will conduct “an in-depth evaluation of alternative routes for the pipeline and a closer look at potential impacts.” 

“The Army’s announcement underscores that tribal rights reserved in treaties and federal law, as well as Nation-to-Nation consultation with tribal leaders, are essential components of the analysis to be undertaken in the environmental impact statement going forward,” Jewell said. 

The company constructing the pipeline, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, has been unwilling to reroute the 1,172-mile project, designed to carry 20 million gallons of oil across the Midwest daily. This weekend, protesters were joined by hundreds of military veterans who oppose the project. 

President-elect Donald Trump supports the pipeline, but denies that’s because he owns stock in the companies that are building it.