BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — President Barack Obama has called for “peace” and “restraint” on the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, and says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is examining whether the four-state project can be rerouted in southern North Dakota to alleviate the concerns of American Indians.
Obama told the online news outlet NowThis that his administration is monitoring the situation closely but will “let it play out for several more weeks.”
“As a general rule, my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans, and I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline,” Obama said an interview Tuesday.
Corps spokeswoman Eileen Williamson said Wednesday the agency had no immediate comment on the president’s remarks. She said a statement by the agency was expected later in the day.
About the DAPL protest
The Trump administration has advanced the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipeline projects. Seattle Times reporter Lynda V. Mapes and photographer Alan Berner traveled to North Dakota last year to cover the protests against the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. Here are recent stories to help you understand the conflict:- Background stories: Here's a primer on the pipeline project, including the key players on all sides, a brief history of broken treaty promises and a closer look at the courtroom battle. And here's what we're reading related to the controversy.
- March 28: What the completed Dakota Access pipeline means for key players.
- Feb. 23: Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp closed; 46 holdouts arrested.
- Feb. 22: Preparing to leave, Standing Rock protesters ceremonially burn camp.
- Feb. 13: Judge rejects tribes’ bid to halt Dakota Access Pipeline; feds plan to shut down protest camp.
- Feb. 1: Hundreds rally as the Seattle City Council considers divesting from Wells Fargo because of its role as a Dakota Access Pipeline lender.
- Jan. 24, 2017: Donald Trump signs executive orders advancing the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe says it will push back.
- Dec. 4, 2016: Tribes celebrate as Corps rejects Dakota Access pipeline easement
- Nov. 21: Washington tribes urge that Obama stop, reroute Dakota Access Pipeline
- Nov. 12: Hundreds rally in Tacoma against Dakota Access Pipeline
- Live updates from from Seattle Times journalists on the scene Oct. 26, 27 and 28.
- Oct. 25: Tribes in Washington state call on President Obama to improve federal consultations over infrastructure projects
- Oct. 24: Citing treaty claim, protesters occupy land a rancher recently sold to pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners.
- See photos from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
The White House said the Corps was exploring a range of options that would address concerns raised by tribal officials and others. Separately, the Army, the Justice Department and the Interior Department are discussing with tribal governments how to prevent future disputes with the federal government over public works projects, according to the White House.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault welcomed Obama’s statement but said the administration and the Corps should go farther and stop work on the pipeline and do a full environmental impact study.
The 1,172-mile, $3.8 billion pipeline will carry oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point at Patoka, Illinois. It will skirt the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.
The tribe objects to the project, saying it could threaten drinking water and destroy sacred sites. The tribe has sued federal regulators for approving permits at more than 200 water crossings.
Protests that have included clashes with police and pipeline security also have gone on for several months in North Dakota, where hundreds and at times thousands of people have set up a large camp on corps land. More than 400 protesters have been arrested since August. No serious injuries have been reported.
Obama called it “a challenging situation.”
“There’s an obligation for protesters to be peaceful, and there’s an obligation for authorities to show restraint,” he said. “I want to make sure that as everybody is exercising their constitutional rights to be heard, that both sides are refraining from situations that might result in people being hurt.”
The Dakota Access pipeline’s capacity is about half of North Dakota’s current production at present. The state, the No.2 oil producer behind Texas, this summer slipped below 1 million barrels daily for the first time in two years due to a slump in world oil prices.
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About 350 miles pipeline would pass through North Dakota at a cost of about $1.4 billion, making it the longest leg of the project and its most expensive.
The pipeline’s path in North Dakota would cross beneath the Little Missouri River once and the Missouri River twice, near Williston and at under Lake Oahe, a river reservoir, near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The company said the pipeline would include safeguards such as leak detection equipment. Workers monitoring the pipeline remotely in Texas could close block valves on the pipeline within three minutes if a breach is detected, the company said.
The federal government in September ordered a temporary halt to construction on corps land around and underneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir in the Dakotas. The corps is reviewing its permitting of the project, but has given no timetable for a decision.
The company still needs federal permission to build the pipeline for about a mile stretch on either side of the reservoir and under it.
The corps also asked that the pipeline company voluntarily stop construction within 20 miles of Lake Oahe, but the company has ignored the request and continued construction.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple said Tuesday that construction on private land was slated to be completed by this weekend, leaving only the small section near the reservoir and under it remaining.
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Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this