The federal Justice Department moved to stop construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline on federal land in North Dakota – and it asked the company to suspend construction work nearby.
That came after a federal District Judge in Washington, DC rejected a motion from the Standing Rock Tribe to temporarily block the project.
The tribe contends sacred burial grounds are being disturbed – and the Army Corps of Engineers did not follow proper procedure when it allowed the pipeline to be built under Lake Oahe.
Several hundred pipeline protestors braved rain showers to hold a rally at the state Capitol in Bismarck Friday.
More than 50 law enforcement officers were also on hand, decked out in riot gear. But the protest remained peaceful.
Word had spread through the crowd that Judge Boasberg denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for an injunction to stop the pipeline construction. But Bobbi Jean Three Legs, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux of South Dakota, approached the microphone, where she read from the Justice Department’s news release.
“We won! We won!” she told the crowd, which erupted in loud applause.
J’son Charger is one of the “No DAPL” runners, who ran to Washington, DC. She’s also a member of the Indigenous Youth Council. Charger said water is of utmost importance to Native youth.
“This is our future that is going to be devastated and destroyed by greed,” Charger said. “The politicians can make these decisions, but when they’re gone, it’s up to us to clean up the mess.”
Dr. Teton Deucheneaux of Eagle Butte, South Dakota, has been at the construction site for several days.
“I swam in this water most of my life,” Deucheneaux said. “That’s our life and livelihood.”
He plans to stay “as long as it takes” to stop construction.
An estimated 4000 protestors had been at the construction site.
