As Construction Of Keystone XL Is Paused, Tribes Brace For What's Next: NPR

Keystone XL pipeline sections sit on a train near Glendive, Mt.

Nate Hegyi / Yellowstone Public Radio

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Nate Hegyi / Yellowstone Public Radio

Keystone XL pipeline sections sit on a train near Glendive, Mt.

Nate Hegyi / Yellowstone Public Radio

This week's federal judge in Montana blocked TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil over 1,000 miles from Alberta to Nebraska. Indigenous activist Angeline Cheek considers a temporary win.

"But also," she says, "our fight is never over."

Cheek lives near the Missouri River on Montana 's Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The Missouri Borders the water supply.

"We need to start thinking like our ancestors thought," she says. "We can not forget who we are."

Although the Keystone XL pipeline might be bridging, Cheek opposes it. She's been leading awareness walks and informational workshops about the pipeline.

Until Thursday's short decision, many people are looking for something to do in Standing Rock. Now the pipeline, and preparations for protest, are on hold for the time being.

Concerns about leaks and crime

Katie Thunderchild lives on the Fort Peck reservation and is worried that the pipeline is built, it could leak.

"And where does it go? It goes into the water," she says. "And we drink that water, and we get sick, and it just goes down the line."

TransCanada says the pipeline will be buried 50 feet below the river. Federal regulations require a major river crossing. TransCanada has the state of the art monitoring systems that can register and drop the pipeline within minutes.

But Thunderchild says she's also worried about the kind of pipeline construction that could bring. This is an isolated place – everyone knows everyone – goal Keystone's developers are planning to build a Fort Peck Indian reservation for a surge of out-of-state workers.

"What is their background," Thunderchild says. "Did they commit a crime, does it involve children, guns, all of that stuff." Drugs?

Bakken oil boom, when a lot of men came into the oil fields. Eastern Montana saw higher rates of sexual assault and violence. At least one of the dead men was killed when they died.

Commitment to build

TransCanada says they drug-test all of their workers, that they would live in work camps with security cameras, and that they have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to guns.

The Keystone XL was blocked by the Obama administration in 2015, which cited environmental and economic concerns. President Donald Trump revived it and now that it has been decided that it should be suspended.

"It was a political decision made by a judge," he told reporters Friday. "I think it's disgrace."

Trump said he wants the pipeline to come because of the jobs it could bring.

"I approved it," he said. "It's ready to start."

In a statement, TransCanada said it's exploring its options, and that the company remains committed to building Keystone XL.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.