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Dakota Access Pipeline

Emails Show Iraq War PR Alums Led Attempt To Discredit Dakota Access Protesters

July 22, 2017 Steve Horn, www.desmogblog.com ,
By Steve Horn for Desmog - Behind the scenes, as law enforcement officials tried to stem protests against the Dakota Access pipeline, alumni from the George W. Bush White House were leading a crisis communications effort to discredit pipeline protesters. Emails show that the firms Delve and Off the Record Strategies, apparently working on contract with the National Sheriffs’ Association, worked in secret on talking points, media outreach, and communications training for law enforcement dealing with Dakota Access opponents mobilized at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. This revelation comes from documents obtained via an open records request from the Laramie County Sheriff's Department in Wyoming. As previously reported by DeSmog, the GOP-connected firm DCI Group led the forward-facing public relations efforts for Dakota Access via a front group called Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN). Today MAIN has morphed into a national effort known as Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN). Delve is an opposition research firm run by Jeff Berkowitz, former Republican National Committee research director and official in the George W. Bush White House. His company led research efforts on behalf of the National Sheriffs' Association.

Security Firm’s Adviser Led Military Intelligence Efforts For LA Riots

July 8, 2017 Steve Horn and Curtis Waltman, www.desmogblog.com , ,
By Steve Horn and Curtis Waltman for Desmog - Retired Major General James “Spider” Marks chairs the advisory board for TigerSwan, a private security firm hired by Energy Transfer Partners to help police protests of the Dakota Access pipeline — an approach for which Marks has shown vocal support. DeSmog has found that Marks also headed up intelligence efforts for the task force which brought over 10,000 U.S. military troops to police the 1992 riots following the acquittal of Los Angeles Police Department members involved in beating Rodney King. In addition, Marks, a long-time military analyst for CNN, led intelligence-gathering efforts for the U.S. military’s 2003 “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq, which was dubbed “Operation Iraqi Liberation.” In recent months, Marks has endorsed Dakota Access and its southern leg, the Bayou Bridge pipeline. He has shown this support by writing op-ed pieces published in various newspapers and on the website of a pro-Dakota Access coalition run by a PR firm funded by Energy Transfer Partners. “I spent a good portion of my adult life in Iraq, and I must tell you that the similarities are stark,” Marks said in November of the anti-Dakota Access encampment set up by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

The Company Behind Dakota Access Pipeline Has Another Big Problem In Ohio

June 24, 2017 Catherine Traywick, www.bloomberg.com , , ,
By Catherine Traywick for Bloomberg - The year began with optimism for Rover. The 2016 election landed friends of Energy Transfer in high places. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry was a company director before he became Energy secretary. President Donald Trump is a former shareholder. After just two weeks in office, Trump cleared the way for the Dakota Access pipeline, which was stalled for months amid protests from Native Americans and their supporters. In that case, Energy Transfer needed a single approval to complete construction -- a federal easement allowing it to drill beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. For Rover, the hold-up stems from mishaps that have prompted federal regulators to look closely at Energy Transfer’s conduct before allowing work to finish. Hint of Trouble The first hint of trouble came last year, when Energy Transfer disregarded a FERC recommendation and razed the 173-year-old Stoneman House in Carroll County, Ohio. The agency used the demolition as a basis for denying Rover a blanket construction permit, forcing Energy Transfer to seek federal approvals at virtually every stage of construction. With that restriction, FERC approved the project in February, and Energy Transfer undertook an aggressive construction push. In a matter of weeks, workers cleared 2,918 acres of trees along 511 miles of the pipeline’s route, finishing just in time to beat bat-roosting season, which would have halted work. The company said it’s hired 13,000 workers over the past four months.

Fight Against DAPL Continues Inside And Outside Federal Courthouse

June 23, 2017 Emma Niles, www.truthdig.com , , ,
By Emma Niles for Truth Dig - Activists opposing the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) made a strong showing of support Wednesday outside a courthouse in Washington, D.C. The self-described “water protectors” rallied while representatives of the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes appeared before U.S. District Judge James Boasberg as part of a status hearing in their case against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Despite months of protests, the corps has allowed the oil pipeline to operate near tribal lands. Last week, the judge ruled in favor of the tribes by ordering the corps to “reconsider” its risk analysis of the controversial pipeline. Wednesday’s rally, according to a press release by organizers Rising Hearts Coalition, “will ... provide remedy options in how to move forward for both parties.” “Oil still flows,” states the event page for the rally. “But this is a crucial victory in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

Victory For Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

June 16, 2017 Jan Hasselman and Phillip Ellis, www.earthjustice.org , , ,
By Jan Hasselman and Phillip Ellis for Earth Justice - The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a significant victory today in its fight to protect the Tribe’s drinking water and ancestral lands from the Dakota Access pipeline. A federal judge ruled that the federal permits authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, which were hastily issued by the Trump administration just days after the inauguration, violated the law in certain critical respects. In a 91-page decision, Judge James Boasberg wrote, “the Court agrees that [the Corps] 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.” The Court did not determine whether pipeline operations should be shut off and has requested additional briefing on the subject and a status conference next week. “This is a major victory for the Tribe and we commend the courts for upholding the law and doing the right thing,” said Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II in a recent statement. “The previous administration painstakingly considered the impacts of this pipeline...

Dakota Access Pipeline Is Already Springing Leaks

May 27, 2017 Alexandra Jacobo, www.nationofchange.org ,
By Alexandra Jacobo for Nation of Change - The yet to be completed, controversial Dakota Access Pipeline has leaked more than 100 gallons of oil already. The pipeline sprang two separate leaks in March. First, 84 gallons of oil were spilled due to a leaky flange on March 3. This leak was located in Watford City. According to the North Dakota Health Department the oil flow was immediately cut off and the spill was contained on the site. A second incident happened on March 5 in Mercer county and spilled 20 gallons of oil. The leak was due to a manufacturing defect on an above-ground valve. The contaminated soil was removed and nothing else was affected. More recently the pipeline spilled another 84 gallons just outside of Tulare, South Dakota. This took place on April 1 and was due to mechanical failure during the testing of a surge pump, according to Aberdeen News. Although the company behind the project, Energy Transfer Partners, and the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources consider these “small” leaks and insist they were easily contained, the spills are troubling for many environmentalists, and more importantly for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that has spent the last year and a half protesting the completion of the pipeline.

Dakota Pipeline Builder Under Fire For Ohio Spill: 8 Violations In 7 Weeks

May 16, 2017 Zahra Hirji, www.insideclimatenews.org , , ,
By Zahra Hirji for Inside Climate News - U.S. regulators halted construction at new sites on an Ohio pipeline after several million gallons of drilling mud coated important state wetlands. Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline, is under fire from federal and state regulators after triggering a massive spill, and seven other violations, during the first seven weeks of construction of a major gas pipeline in Ohio. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Wednesday sent a letter to the Rover pipeline operator ordering it to not start construction on any new locations, as well as to stop construction at the site of the major wetlands spill and to hire an independent contractor to dig into what went wrong there. "Staff has serious concerns regarding the magnitude of the incident (which was several orders of magnitude greater than other documented [horizontal directional drilling] inadvertent returns for this project), its environmental impacts, the lack of clarity regarding the underlying reasons for its occurrence, and the possibility of future problems," federal regulators wrote. The phrase "inadvertent returns" is industry speak for a certain type of spill or release of construction material.

Dakota Access Pipeline Spills At South Dakota Pump Station

May 13, 2017 Staff, www.unicornriot.ninja ,
By Staff of Unicorn Riot - Spink County, SD – Officials have provided public notice of a leak of oil from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) which occurred over a month ago. On April 4, 84 gallons of oil (roughly equivalent to two barrels) leaked at a pipeline pump station in a rural area near Crandon, South Dakota, according to the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources Ground Water Quality Program. The Dakota Access Pipeline is not yet operational but company officials claim it will go online June 1. The Dakota Access Pipeline faced massive opposition in North Dakota, where it’s route goes underneath the Missouri River about a mile upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation. Indigenous water protectors have repeatedly cited the threat to clean drinking water posed by a potential pipeline leak as well as a lack of consent from affected tribes, among their motivations for fighting the pipeline. “These spills are going to be nonstop,” Standing Rock tribal Chairman Dave Archambault told ABC news. “With 1,200 miles of pipeline, spills are going to happen. Nobody listened to us. Nobody wants to listen, because they’re driven by money and greed.”

Dakota Pipeline Is Ready for Oil, Without Spill Response Plan For Standing Rock

May 12, 2017 Phil Mckenna, www.insideclimatenews.org , , ,
By Phil Mckenna for Inside Climate News - Without a complete emergency plan or equipment, a spill at the Missouri River crossing could cause tremendous damage to the environment and the tribe's water. Oil is set to flow through the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, but there is still no oil spill response plan in place for the section of pipe that crosses the Missouri River just upstream from the Standing Rock reservation. The company won't be required to have emergency response cleanup equipment stored near the river crossing for another year, either. The lack of rigorous safety measures for the crude oil pipeline is raising concerns from lawyers and pipeline consultants for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose protests and legal fight against the Dakota Access pipeline became a flashpoint for environmental justice and indigenous rights last year. Despite the prolonged resistance, the pipeline is scheduled to begin operating on June 1 after President Donald Trump issued an order expediting its approval. Dakota Access LLC, the company building the pipeline, is required by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to submit a general emergency plan for the entire half-million-barrel-a-day project before oil shipments begin.

In Heat Of DAPL Protests, Sheriffs’ Association Lobbied For Gear

April 29, 2017 Steve Horn, www.desmogblog.com , ,
By Steve Horn for Desmog Blog - At the end of 2016, as a mix of sheriffs, police, and private security forces were clashing with those protesting the Dakota Access pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the National Sheriffs' Association was lobbying Congress for surplus military gear and on undisclosed issues related to the now-operating oil pipeline. This information comes from federal lobbying disclosure forms reviewed by DeSmog. The National Sheriffs' Association, a trade association representing sheriffs' departments nationwide, hired the firm Ervin Hill Strategy to lobby on its behalf during quarter four of 2016 and quarter one of 2017. Lobbyist and former congressional staffer John Blount was assigned to the cause. Blount did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The multi-state policing response at Standing Rock came under sharp criticism due to its highly militarized nature against the Native American-led opposition. Spurred by the North Dakota governor's emergency declaration, law enforcement officials nationwide began pouring into North Dakota under the auspices of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC).

Dakota Access Pipeline Now Has Oil Beneath Missouri River

April 24, 2017 Staff, www.nbcnews.com , ,
By Staff of NBC News - The Dakota Access pipeline developer said Monday that it has placed oil in the pipeline under a Missouri River reservoir in North Dakota and that it's preparing to put the pipeline into service. Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners made the announcement in a brief court filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The announcement marks a significant development in the long battle over the project that will move North Dakota oil 2,000 miles through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The pipeline is three months behind schedule due to large protests and the objections of two American Indian tribes who say it threatens their water supply and cultural sites. ETP's filing did not say when the company expected the pipeline to be completely operating, and a spokeswoman did not immediately return an email seeking additional details. "Oil has been placed in the Dakota Access Pipeline underneath Lake Oahe. Dakota Access is currently commissioning the full pipeline and is preparing to place the pipeline into service," the filing stated. Despite the announcement, the battle isn't over. The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes still have an unresolved lawsuit that seeks to stop the project.

Protesters Ready To Block Southern End Of Dakota Access Pipeline

April 4, 2017 Karl Herchenroeder, www.pjmedia.com ,
By Karl Herchenroeder for PJ Media - Protesters in Louisiana say they are ready to put their “bodies on the line” if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves construction of Energy Transfer Partners’ Bayou Bridge Pipeline, which is the tail end of the Dakota Access Pipeline’s network. “If the permits get issued and it’s a ‘yes,’ then we’re going to do whatever it is we have to do to protect our wetlands, to protect our families from this company and from this particular project,” Cherri Foytlin, director of the activist group Bold Louisiana, told PJM in an interview last week. “If we have to put our bodies on the line, we’ll do that.” The $670 million, 160-mile pipeline would run through 11 Louisiana parishes encompassing the Atchafalaya Basin, which is the largest wetland and swamp in the country. The pipeline would allow transport of oil and gas from North Dakota to refineries in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast, while also providing access to a major hub in Texas. The Atchafalaya Basin is already home to a series of pipelines serving oil and gas companies that employ more than 64,000 people in the state, according to the Times-Picayune.

Dakota Access Pipeline Sabotaged In Several States

March 25, 2017 Staff, www.unicornriot.ninja , , ,
By Staff of Unicorn Riot - Authorities in South Dakota and Iowa confirmed Tuesday that someone apparently used a torch to burn a hole through empty sections of the pipeline at aboveground shut-off valve sites. Mahaska County Sheriff Russell Van Renterghem said the culprit in Iowa appeared to have gotten under a fence around the facility, but Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Chad Brown said the site in South Dakota wasn’t fenced. The Iowa incident was discovered March 13 and the South Dakota incident Friday [March 17]. Pipeline operators are asked to report security breaches to the National Response Center. Data on the center’s website show no reports from ETP this month.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised… But It Will Be Livestreamed

March 16, 2017 Michael Negro, www.huffingtonpost.com ,
By Michael Negro for The Huffington Post - Everyone knew that in less than 24 hours the camp was scheduled to be raided by a militarized force, which consisted of local, state and federal police departments, Homeland Security, the National Guard, the Bureau of Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and, reportedly, the NSA, among other law enforcement agencies. For days, few corporate media outlets had been seen near the camp making it all the more important for the independent and citizen journalists to report and document and witness what was an eventuality: the violent destruction of the camp. In a mere 10 months, Standing Rock came to symbolize so much more than a pipeline fight.

Dakota Oil Pipeline Opponents Fail Again To Halt Project

March 16, 2017 Andrew M Harri, www.bloomberg.com , ,
By Andrew M Harri for Bloomberg - Energy Transfer Partners LP cleared another legal hurdle with oil soon to flow through the Dakota Access pipeline. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Washington rejected a Native American tribe’s request to put the project on pause while it asks an appeals court to block it. Last week, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the tribe waited too long to argue that the conduit threatened to make lake water impure and unsuitable for their religious practices. Attorneys for the ETP-led Dakota Access LLC consortium building the pipeline told the court Monday that oil could be introduced as soon as March 20. The 1,172-mile pipe will carry crude from shale oil-rich northwestern North Dakota to a terminal in Patoka, Illinois.
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