Native American Tribes File Complaint to Disable Keystone XL Pipeline License: NPR

In a new attempt to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, two Amerindian tribes are suing the Trump administration, claiming that it did not respect the historic limits of the treaty and bypassed the environmental impact analysis. As a result, they are asking a Montana federal judge to cancel the 2017 license and to prevent any further construction or use of the controversial pipeline.

The Indian community of Fort Belknap, Montana, and Rosebud Sioux Tribe, South Dakota, contend that the 1,200-mile pipeline project across their respective territories would not have had an impact on their water systems. water and their sacred lands.

As NPR's Bill Chappell reported in 2015, the State Department, which has jurisdiction over transnational pipelines, "rejected an authorization for the Keystone XL pipeline" and ordered the following year and other activists protested his route near culturally sensitive sites in North Dakota. But shortly after he took office, President Trump approved the construction of the Dakota Access Project and, on the same day, invited TransCanada – the Canadian company that owns Keystone – to re-apply for a license. months later, the State Department gave the green light to the project, paving the way for construction this summer.

By way of comparison, tribal lawyers noted that the Department of State's review process for TransCanada's first license application in 2008 took 1,216 days, while the second took 1,280 days.

At a signing ceremony at the Oval Office, Trump proclaimed that the pipeline project "was part of a new era of US energy policy that would reduce costs for American families and significantly reduce our dependence on oil and would create thousands of jobs here. America."

As NPR's Jeff Brady and Jason Slotkin pointed out, "The oil industry and some unions have supported the pipeline, largely for the thousands of jobs it would provide. But these jobs are temporary. The State Department estimated will employ about 35 people. "

In a statement released Monday by tribal lawyers, the Native American Rights Fund, he said that before granting the license of the Alberta-based energy company, his application had not changed twice.

NARF wrote:

"… there was no analysis of fiduciary duties, no analysis of treaty rights, no analysis of the potential impact on human rights. hunting and fishing, no analysis of potential impacts on the unique water system of the Rosebud Sioux tribe, no analysis of the potential impact of spills on tribal citizens and no analysis the potential impact on cultural sites located on the pipeline route, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Law and the National Historic Preservation Act. "

A State Department spokesman said the agency had not publicly responded to the trial, according to the Associated Press.

The day Trump approved the Dakota Access Pipeline, it introduced two other decrees it signed at the time, saying they would expedite environmental reviews and approvals of "priority infrastructure projects" and streamline process and reduce regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing ".

The Keystone XL project would cut diagonally from Hardisty, Alberta, via Montana, to the South Dakota and North borders, to connect to the Keystone Pipeline in Steele City, Nebraska. Itinerary is 1,204 miles.

Fort Belknap Indian Reserve has close to 8,000 members of the Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) and Assiniboine (Nakoda) tribes. According to court documents, "the proposed pipeline will cross the ancestral lands, sacred sites and historic sites of the Fort Belknap tribes".

Meanwhile, the Rosebud Indian Reserve in South Dakota is home to the Sicangu Oyate, a branch of the Lakota people. The suit claims "nearly 35,000 members, many of whom live in the area that will be crossed by the pipeline, including in Tripp County, South Dakota."

Among the many dangers that tribes fear, there is contamination caused by the rupture or spill of the pipeline. The prosecution cited three such cases in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, arising from the existing Keystone Pipeline.

In August, District Judge Brian Morris of Montana – the same judge who will rule Rosebud and Fort Belknap – ordered the State Department to conduct a more in-depth review of the proposed Keystone Road pipeline. " The Rapid City Journal reported.