Standing Rock Sioux Tribe still waiting on Dakota Access decision

Tuesday, September 18, 2018  

The Trump administration has yet to release its revised Dakota Access Pipeline decision, more than two weeks after it was announced in federal court.

No one -- except for a few people in Washington, D.C. -- have seen it. That includes the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose leaders and citizens began the fight against the controversial crude oil pipeline more than two years ago, turning the #NoDAPL movement into an international cause.

"An oil spill affecting Lake Oahe would pose an existential threat to our culture," Chairman Mike Faith, Jr. writes in Indian Country Today. "It would fundamentally undermine our treaty-protected rights to the integrity of our homelands and the waters that sustain us.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the final portion of the pipeline on August 31, according to a two-page "memorandum for record" that was filed in court that day. But the actual, 100-page decision was not released at the time because it is "undergoing a confidentiality review," the Department of Justice wrote in a separate filing.

It's not clear how long that review will take. As of early Tuesday afternoon, the document still had not been submitted in court.

Once the decision is released, the tribe will be able to determine its next move. Continued litigation is one option.

"The tribe will review the Corps’ Aug. 31 decision closely to determine how best to proceed, in close consultation with our membership, staff, and advisors," Faith writes in ICT.

The final portion of the 1,100-mile pipeline crosses federally-managed land at Lake Oahe along the Missouri River. The site is less than a half-mile from the northern border of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The Army Corps, barely two weeks after President Donald Trump took office, approved the easement without informing Standing Rock or other affected tribes. That process was flawed, a federal judge later determined, so a new decision was ordered back in June 2017.

Mike Faith, Jr.: Federal permit process for the Dakota Access Pipeline was illegal and flawed (Indian Country Today September 18, 2018)

Dakota Access Pipeline decision still missing in action a week later (September 7, 2018)
Hard work 'in the trash': Standing Rock Sioux Tribe slams Trump on Dakota Access (September 4, 2018)
A return to frontier justice? Red Fawn Fallis locked up for #NoDAPL incident (August 20, 2018)
Trump administration delays Dakota Access Pipeline decision again (August 8, 2018)
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Elizabeth Cook-Lynn: An Indian man walks into court and asks a judge to do the right thing (April 20, 2018)
Graham Lee Brewer: What we learned about #NoDAPL and accountability (April 16, 2018)
Albert Bender: Oil continues to flow through 'genocidal' Dakota Access Pipeline (April 9, 2018)
YES! Magazine: An 'awakening' emerges from Standing Rock (March 28, 2018)
Trump administration blames tribes for delay in new Dakota Access study (March 21, 2018)
Jenni Monet: What the movement at Standing Rock gave the world (March 16, 2018)
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Native Sun News Today: 'Water Protectors' film heralds unsung Lakota heroes (January 15, 2018)
Native Sun News Today: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe raises funds for water (January 10, 2018)
Albert Bender: The original genocide continues with the Dakota Access Pipeline (November 16, 2017)