MuckRock: The role public records can play in pipeline protests

24.12.16

The role public records can play in pipeline protests: [MuckRock] Written by Beryl Lipton/Edited by JPat Brown

The estimated $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline has been a flashpoint at the intersection of concerns environmental, tribal, and corporate. Since April, members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe have protested the development of the 1,168-mile pipeline in North Dakota, and despite a federal ruling allowing the construction to continue, the Departments of Justice, the Army, and the Interior have halted further building on federal land until further consideration can be given to the current permits. Meanwhile, protests and arrests continue.

The Dakota Pipeline is at the center of renewed efforts to improve communication between U.S. and tribal governments. This is just one instance of tribal pushback against energy infrastructure - construction and mining in other environmentally-fragile and protected areas have caused similar concerns but haven’t drawn the attention this particular bid has.