Court cancels shutdown of Dakota Access Pipeline

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a lower court’s determination that the Dakota Access Pipeline should be temporarily shut down. U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg had ordered the pipeline to be shut down last month while the Army Corps of Engineers works to prepare an environmental impact statement for a rule relaxation that allowed it to cross the Missouri river. However, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled Wednesday that the lower court did not have the “findings necessary” for such a move. Still, Wednesday's ruling was not entirely a win for backers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, with the appeals court declining to halt a prior ruling saying the Army Corps of Engineers needed to conduct another environmental impacts assessment. Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the pipeline to be temporarily shut down while the Army Corps. of Engineers conducts the additional assessment. That followed a prior ruling in which Boasberg determined that a previous environmental assessment was inadequate...MORE

Dakota Access Pipeline to Shut Down Pending Review, Federal Judge Rules

The Dakota Access Pipeline, an oil route from North Dakota to Illinois that has inspired intense protests and legal battles, must shut down pending an environmental review and be emptied of oil by Aug. 5, a district court ruled on Monday. The decision, which could be subject to appeal, is a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other Native American and environmental groups who have fought the project for years, and a significant defeat for President Trump, who has sought to keep the Dakota Access Pipeline alive. “Today is a historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the many people who have supported us in the fight against the pipeline,” Mike Faith, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said in a statement. “This pipeline should have never been built here,” he added. “We told them that from the beginning.” The ruling, by Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the latest twist in a long-running legal battle. It essentially vacates a federal permit that had allowed the pipeline to operate while the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which had granted the permits for the pipeline, conducted an extensive environmental impact review. Energy Transfer, the Texas company that owns the pipeline, said in a statement on Monday that it would file a motion to stay the decision, and if that failed, appeal to a higher court...MORE

Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Back To Spotlight As Battle Over Expansion Starts

The company owning the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe resumed a long-standing regulatory battle this week, after North Dakota’s regulators began hearings on whether Dakota Access’s owner Energy Transfer should be allowed to double the pipeline’s capacity. North Dakota Public Service Commission started hearings on Wednesday on whether to allow Energy Transfer to build pump stations in North Dakota in order to boost the pipeline capacity, and both the company and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe weighed in on the issue. The commission is expected to come to a decision at a later date. Energy Transfer, whose original Dakota Access pipeline began operations in 2017, plans to double the oil flow capacity of the pipeline to 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) from the current 570,000 bpd to meet rising production from the Bakken. Even after Dakota Access entered into service, the Bakken shale play started to see at the end of 2018 all pipelines full to capacity again, leading to hefty discounts of the oil from the Bakken compared to WTI. Energy Transfer argues that “Optimizing capacity will enable further development in the Bakken, which means more jobs and economic benefits for local communities.”...MORE 

More than a year later, some journalists arrested at DAPL protests still await trial

Jenni Monet climbed a hill overlooking the Cannonball River to shoot video of dozens of protesters against the Dakota Access oil pipeline who had put up a teepee village and stood with their arms locked in a gesture of determination. Monet was reporting on a police operation to clear the Last Child Camp... then, while walking down the hill to leave the camp at the direction of a state trooper, Monet was herself arrested on Feb. 1, 2017, by a second officer, she said. Monet, who carried press credentials with her, was flex-cuffed, bused with protesters who had been arrested, strip-searched and held for hours with 19 other women in a chain-link cage at the Morton County Detention Center before her release. The charges against her: criminal trespass and engaging in a riot. If convicted of the misdemeanors, she could face up to a year in jail. Her defense: "I was there doing my job." She said she was denied a phone call to her lawyer until 25 hours after her arrest and was detained for more than 30 hours before her release. Monet, who has pleaded not guilty to both charges, is one of about 10 journalists who were arrested while covering the anti-pipeline protests, and one of about half a dozen still facing criminal trials in Morton County, more than a year after their arrests. "Over a year later I still have not obtained my arrest report despite repeated requests," she said. The journalists' arrests in late 2016 and early 2017 sparked calls from press freedom and journalism groups for dismissal of the charges and speedy release of confiscated cameras, recorders and memory cards...MORE

Cashing in on Standing Rock - How Veterans Stand squandered $1.4 million raised around the #NoDAPL protests.

...He never thought that his pilgrimage to the wintry plains of North Dakota would ultimately derail his life and leave him at the center of an ethical controversy. Within one year, Wood helped create Veterans Stand and raise more than $1.4 million in online donations. But that money remains largely unaccounted for — and the organization has since collapsed...In the course of a nine-month investigation, High Country News compiled publicly available data from GoFundMe and examined nearly 250 campaigns, each of which raised at least $3,000 for causes related to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Altogether, more than 138,000 people donated nearly $8 million. Many of those campaigns accepted money without necessarily offering accountability, either to their donors or to the causes they claimed to represent. In the case of Veterans Stand, chaos and disarray become the hallmarks of a campaign that initially galvanized thousands of veterans and inspired more than 26,000 people from around the world to donate. That money was, at best, squandered and at worst, egregiously misspent.

Read entire article at High Country News

Tribal head who led Dakota Access pipeline fight voted out

The Native American official who has been the face and voice of the fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline has been voted out of office. Unofficial results from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's general election Wednesday showed that Dave Archambault received only 37 percent of about 1,700 votes cast. His opponent, longtime tribal councilman and wildlife official Mike Faith, received 63 percent, according to the totals released Thursday. Archambault conceded defeat in a statement. "I will continue to advocate for the issues facing our community and look forward to exploring new opportunities," he said. "I wish the new administration the best and look forward to a smooth transition, ensuring that we do not lose the powerful momentum we have at Standing Rock." The tribe opposed the $3.8 billion pipeline built by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners over fears it would harm cultural sites and the tribe's Missouri River water supply — claims rejected by ETP. Protests failed to stop the pipeline, and it began moving North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point in Illinois on June 1. The Standing Rock and three other Sioux tribes are still fighting the pipeline in federal court...more

Judge Accepts No-Jail Deal for Jill Stein in Pipeline Protest Case

A North Dakota judge on Wednesday accepted a plea agreement that spares former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein any jail time for protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline nearly a year ago. Judge Gail Hagerty accepted a plea deal in which Stein pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief and prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge. Stein will be on unsupervised probation for about six months and must pay $250 in fees. She had faced a maximum punishment of two months in jail and $3,000 in fines. Stein was charged for spray-painting a bulldozer at a construction site last September. She told The Associated Press in March that it was "very problematic to have this hanging over my head" and that she wanted the case resolved. She also said that she was willing to go jail but that's "not my preference, obviously." Stein's running mate, Ajamu Baraka, who faced similar charges, got the same deal Wednesday...more

Trump administration rejects request to declare site of Dakota Access Pipeline protests a disaster area

John Sexton

Are left-wing protesters the equivalent of a natural disaster? It may sometimes seem that way but the Trump administration rejected a request by the Governor of North Dakota to declare the scene of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests a disaster area. The Governor was looking for the feds to help with the massive $38 million spent policing the protests. From the Seattle Times...more

How big of a stretch would it be to says the feds should bear some of the cost for this? No stretch at all says Sexton: 

 The claim that the feds bear some responsibility for this is far less of a stretch than it might at first appear. Remember that the main camp where, at its peak, several thousand protesters were living, was on federal land. The police were able to remove the protesters from private land when they tried to set up camp there but were not able to remove people from the federal land. The Obama administration didn’t move to close that land until late November. And even then, the government didn’t enforce the closure.

Dakota Access developer drops private security accused of working without license

The developer of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline said Wednesday that it no longer has private security personnel in North Dakota, including a firm that state regulators say operated illegally without a license. "We continue to have security measures in place in North Dakota, just no longer need boots on the ground," Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman Vicki Granado said in an email to The Associated Press. North Dakota's Private Investigative and Security Board last week asked a state judge to block North Carolina-based TigerSwan's armed workers from continuing to monitor the pipeline system. The board said TigerSwan had no license during the height of the protests and continued operating after being denied one. Granado said in her email that TigerSwan stopped providing security services in the "last couple of weeks." TigerSwan said it ended work with Dallas-based ETP near the end of June. TigerSwan was founded by retired military special forces members. The regulatory board alleges in court documents that TigerSwan employees with semi-automatic rifles and handguns protected workers and equipment at construction sites, conducted intelligence on protesters including placing or trying to place undercover agents within the protest groups, and even monitored traffic on a state highway. The board also said TigerSwan continued to provide round-the-clock security along the pipeline in the state...more

 I certainly don't blame a firm for protecting their private property, and I realize these state licensing requirements can be no more than a paper-shuffling tax and attempt to limit competition. I also don't believe for a minute that all of these folks were just innocent "water protectors."  However, the reality of federally-trained former military personnel using their skills to surveil, infiltrate, and disrupt private citizens and groups; conducting these activities in five different states and coordinating and sharing information with the FBI, Homeland Security, DOJ, U.S.Marshals and BIA; and referring to the situation as a "battlefield" and to citizens as "insurgents"; that is just plain scary to me.

Judge: Dakota Access Pipeline needs further environmental review

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the environmental review for the Dakota Access pipeline was, in part, inadequate and must be reconsidered, handing tribal opponents of the 1,170-mile pipeline project a key legal victory. But U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg did not order pipeline operators to stop the oil that is already flowing through the project, saying he would need to consider that request in light of Wednesday's judgement. Boasberg ruled that the federal government “substantially complied” with the federal environmental permitting law that governs projects such as Dakota Access, a 1,170-mile $3.8 billion pipeline that can carry up to 570,000 barrels of oil per day. But, Boasberg wrote in a 91-page opinion, the Army Corps of Engineers “did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial.” He ruled that the Army Corps, which permitted the project, would need to conduct a new review of Dakota Access that considers those factors. But Boasberg did not order Dakota Access to cease operations, which have been underway since June 1. He said that is a “separate question” that he will consider in the future...more

Tribe officials acquitted in North Dakota pipeline protests

Two officials with the Standing Rock Sioux have been acquitted of disorderly conduct charges that were filed during early protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault and Tribal Councilman Dana Yellow Fat were arrested on Aug. 12 for allegedly pushing back against a line of law enforcement officers in North Dakota. During their trial Wednesday, both men said they were only trying to protect older tribal members. Jurors quickly returned not-guilty verdicts. The Standing Rock tribe led the opposition against the $3.8 billion pipeline, alleging it threatened drinking water and tribal sites. Hundreds of people were arrested during protests last year...more

Drone Journalist Faces 7 Years in Prison for Filming Dakota Pipeline Protests

A citizen journalist in Morton County, North Dakota is facing up to seven years in jail for flying a drone over the North Dakota Pipeline protests. In October, Aaron Turgeon was arrested by Morton County Police and was charged with a felony count of Reckless Endangerment, a misdemeanor count of Reckless Endangerment, and a misdemeanor count of Physical Obstruction of a Government Function, according to court documents obtained by Motherboard. Together, he faces up to seven years in court if found guilty. His court case is Thursday. For weeks, Turgeon (who also goes by "Prolific the Rapper") documented the North Dakota Access Pipeline protests for several Facebook groups that livestreamed and posted photos and videos about the movement. Several of these aerial videos documented police shooting protesters with water cannons and tear gas canisters...more 

Update: Turgeon was found not guilty on all counts Thursday evening.

Lawsuit dismissed against Dakota Access Pipeline protesters

A federal judge dismissed the civil suit filed by Dakota Access against the Standing Rock tribal chairman and four other defendants. In an order filed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland said the company failed to show that the federal court had jurisdiction over the case. Hovland dismissed the claims against Dave Archambault, Dana Yellow Fat, Valerie Wolf Necklace, Clifton Hollow and Jonathan Edwards. There is still a lawsuit against Donald Strickland and Aaron Neyer, who did not file motions to dismiss. The company claimed the seven defendants interfered with pipeline work through their actions in the protest, threatening the safety of workers and costing the company business to the tune of more than $75,000 a day when work stopped. But the company didn't show that the alleged losses caused by each defendant exceeded $75,000, which is required for a lawsuit to be valid in federal court, Hovland decided...more

Lawsuit dismissed against Dakota Access Pipeline protesters

A federal judge dismissed the civil suit filed by Dakota Access against the Standing Rock tribal chairman and four other defendants. In an order filed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland said the company failed to show that the federal court had jurisdiction over the case. Hovland dismissed the claims against Dave Archambault, Dana Yellow Fat, Valerie Wolf Necklace, Clifton Hollow and Jonathan Edwards. There is still a lawsuit against Donald Strickland and Aaron Neyer, who did not file motions to dismiss. The company claimed the seven defendants interfered with pipeline work through their actions in the protest, threatening the safety of workers and costing the company business to the tune of more than $75,000 a day when work stopped. But the company didn't show that the alleged losses caused by each defendant exceeded $75,000, which is required for a lawsuit to be valid in federal court, Hovland decided...more

47 pipeline protest cases closed last month, 33 dismissed

Prosecutors and judges dismissed 33 misdemeanor criminal cases resulting from arrests at the Dakota Access Pipeline protests last month.. Another 14 cases were resolved that month by guilty pleas, according to court records. Most of the dropped cases related to misdemeanor criminal trespass charges from the late summer and fall. Protesters were charged with demonstrating illegally on private property where pipeline construction was underway in southern Morton County. Prosecutors struggled to prove those charges before Allan Schmalenberger, a retired judge from Dickinson assisting the South Central District judges with DAPL cases. Schmalenberger decided in multiple cases that the Morton County State's Attorney's Office had not met its burden of proof in showing that protesters were given proper notice — by sign postings or warnings from an authorized person — that the land was private. After two trials, which Schmalenberger canceled midway through due to lack of evidence, the prosecutors entered motions to dismiss in several similar cases, citing a "notice issue."...more

Dakota Access company can keep some pipeline secrets

A federal judge is allowing the developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline to keep secret some but not all pipeline information that the company believes could be useful to vandals and terrorists. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said in a ruling dated Friday that information such as spill risks at various points along the pipeline should be shielded from public view but that certain details relating to how a spill might be handled don't warrant such protection. Two American Indian tribes who oppose the pipeline had argued that the spill risk data could bolster their case that more environmental study is needed. Attorneys for the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, declined to comment, citing the tribes' ongoing federal lawsuit over the $3.8 billion project to move North Dakota oil to a distribution point 1,200 miles away in Illinois. The Texas-based developer in February asked Boasberg to shield information that it contends could be used by anyone "with the malicious intent to damage the pipeline." At the time, there had been about 750 arrests of anti-pipeline activists in North Dakota since August, and also vandalism to company equipment in Iowa and North Dakota during construction. In March, there were confirmed instances in which someone apparently had used a torch to burn holes through empty sections of the pipeline at aboveground shut-off valve sites, though no one was arrested...more

Dead body found near former Dakota Access Pipeline protest camps

An apparent Dakota Access Pipeline activist missing since October has been found dead floating in the Cannonball River near the site of the former protest camps. A local fisherman discovered the body of Damjan Nedelkovski, 35, of Glendale, California, near the shoreline at the river’s mouth, according to a press release issued Monday by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department in Mandan, North Dakota. “Family and friends report that their last contact with Nedelkovski was on October 29, 2016,” said the statement. “His stepbrother filed a missing person report with the Glendale Police Department on November 16, 2016. Nedelkovski was known to be at the protest camps.” The autopsy performed by the North Dakota Medical Examiner’s office in Bismarck revealed “no trauma to the body to suspect any foul play. The cause of death is still pending, and authorities are unsure how long the body was in the river.”...more

Reclamation, delayed by protesters, along Dakota Access Pipeline worries landowners

The Dakota Access Pipeline and an associated protest has packed a two-part punch for farmers and ranchers in North Dakota's Morton and Sioux counties. While completion of the pipeline was scheduled for the week of March 20, ranchers are fearing a third effect — soil erosion caused by reclamation delays. Doug Hille ranches with his wife, Carol, and daughter, Steph, at Chimney Butte Ranch. They have about 300 purebred Gelbvieh cows and harvest about 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat, plus hay and forage. Hille grew up east of St. Anthony. He graduated in agricultural economics from North Dakota State University in 1971, worked for Steiger Tractor Co., the North Dakota National Guard and in industrial sales before moving back to the area in the fall of 1989. The couple's "investment" ranch turned into a purebred Gelbvieh operation. "In certain areas, restoration activities were unable to be completed due to frozen conditions," said Lisa Dillinger, spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners, L.P., of Dallas, said. "Those remaining activities will be completed after the winter months. The protests did not impact restoration schedules." John Shultz grew up near Parshall, ranched near Flasher and had a career in coal mining, starting in land reclamation management at a mine near Stanton. Schultz, who now lives in Mandaon, has experience in reclamation. He has worked with area ranchers on reclamation negotiations and said it seems "obvious" that the reclamation schedule was affected. "There were many days they didn't work where they were shut down along the pipeline when protesters were going there in the late summer and fall," he said. "Landowners were aware of what was going on, and talking to the crews out there. They weren't working in a vacuum." Shultz said it was an exceptionally long fall. He said he couldn't explain any rationale for such a denial. Roughly 30 miles of the Dakota Access Pipeline right-of-way is still not reclaimed, about 150 feet wide, west of the Missouri River. "We really need to get the land reclaimed as soon as possible, without all kinds of strange people and restrictions about where and when we can cross," Hille said. "We would have been back to normal before Oct. 1 had the protest not stopped everything. We would have had green growth on top of the disturbed ground had these people not shot things down."...more

Oil has begun flowing through the Dakota Access pipeline — here's what that means for the key players

Oil has begun flowing through the Dakota Access pipeline after months of delays caused by protests and Native American tribes' efforts to stop the project. The 1,200-mile pipeline is capable of moving half of the oil produced in North Dakota to a distribution point in Illinois. It will be fully operational in about three weeks. Here's a look at how the saga has affected the major players: For Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, the start of operations means money. The company had hoped the pipeline would be operational late last year, but resistance from Sioux tribes and a favorable order under the Obama administration blocked final construction until President Donald Trump took office in January and pushed federal officials to approve the final stage of construction. The company says in court documents that it has long-term transportation contracts with nine companies to ship oil through the pipeline. Based on information supplied by ETP in court documents, delays have cost it more than half-a-billion dollars. The fight over the pipeline drew widespread attention and at one point attracted thousands of protesters to an encampment near the small town of Cannon Ball. For opponents, the flow of oil is a setback but not necessarily a defeat. Four Sioux tribes — the Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Yankton and Oglala — have a lawsuit pending in federal court and hope to persuade a judge to shut down the pipeline to protect Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir and their water source. Opponents say they also have succeeded on a larger scale by raising awareness about clean water issues and sparking protests at other pipeline projects across the nation, as well as at banks that have supported Dakota Access. "The resistance is growing," protest leader Joye Braun said. "Water protectors have spread out around the country."...more

Delayed reclamation along Dakota Access Pipeline worries landowners

The Dakota Access Pipeline and an associated protest has packed a two-part punch for farmers and ranchers in North Dakota's Morton and Sioux counties. While completion of the pipeline is scheduled for the week of March 20, ranchers are fearing a third effect — soil erosion caused by reclamation delays. Doug Hille ranches with his wife, Carol, and daughter, Steph, at Chimney Butte Ranch. They have about 300 purebred Gelbvieh cows and harvest about 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat, plus hay and forage. "In certain areas, restoration activities were unable to be completed due to frozen conditions," said Lisa Dillinger, spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners, L.P., of Dallas, said. "Those remaining activities will be completed after the winter months. The protests did not impact restoration schedules." John Shultz grew up near Parshall, ranched near Flasher, and had a career in coal mining, starting in land reclamation management at a mine near Stanton. Schultz, who now lives in Mandaon, has experience in reclamation. He has worked with area ranchers on reclamation negotiations and said it seems "obvious" that the reclamation schedule was affected. "There were many days they didn't work where they were shut down along the pipeline when protesters were going there in the late summer and fall," he said. "Landowners were aware of what was going on, and talking to the crews out there. They weren't working in a vacuum." Shultz said it was an exceptionally long fall. He said he couldn't explain any rationale for such a denial...more