Washington, DC — Within the next 24 hours, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to grant the final easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline that would allow construction to proceed under the Missouri River in North Dakota. The decision is coming after the Obama administration ordered the Army Corps to withhold the final easement last year, calling for a full environmental review of the project. Shortly after taking office, Trump urged the Army Corps to scrap the environmental review process and approve the final permit.
May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director, said:
“Trump thinks he’s getting what he wants, but the people who’ve been emboldened by the worldwide fight against the Dakota Access pipeline won’t quietly back away. Indigenous leaders, landowners, and climate activists are ready to challenge this decision in the courts and in the streets — as we have each time the fossil fuel industry steamrolls over human rights for their own profits. While the industry’s grip on our government tightens, so does our resolve to keep oil, coal, and gas in the ground and build the clean energy economy we need from the ground up.”
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said:
“Donald Trump will not build his Dakota Access Pipeline without a fight. The granting of an easement, without any environmental review or tribal consultation, is not the end of this fight — it is the new beginning. Expect mass resistance far beyond what Trump has seen so far.
“The granting of this easement goes against protocol, it goes against legal process, it disregards more than 100,000 comments already submitted as part of the not-yet-completed environmental review process — all for the sake of Donald Trump’s billionaire big oil cronies. And, it goes against the treaty rights of the entire Seven Councils Fires of the Sioux Nations.
“Donald Trump has not met with a single Native Nation since taking office. Our tribal nations and Indigenous grassroots peoples on the frontlines have had no input on this process. We support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and stand with them at this troubling time.”
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Dani Heffernan, [email protected], +1 (305) 992-1544
Jade Begay, [email protected], +1 (505) 699-4791