NEW YORK CITY, United States (Reuters) — The companies behind the Dakota Access Pipeline asked a U.S. court to intervene in the fight over its completion as demonstrators fanned out across North America on Tuesday (November 15) to protest the controversial project.
In New York City, a demonstration was held a day after the U.S. government delayed granting an easement for the pipeline’s construction in North Dakota.
“We want to stand with the Sioux people in defending sacred land against poisonous pipelines,” said protester Marty Goodman. “They’re threatening millions of people in the entire region and threaten ultimately the climate of the entire planet.”
Energy Transfer Partners, the main company behind the pipeline, and its subsidiary, Sunoco Logistics Partners, filed papers on Monday night in U.S. district court in Washington, D.C., seeking declaratory relief to “end the Administration’s political interference in the Dakota Access Pipeline review process.” They noted that the delays have already cost them more than $100 million.
The $3.7 billion Dakota Access project has drawn steady opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe as well as environmental activists who say it could pollute nearby water supplies and destroy sacred historic tribal sites.
“I honor the Native American, I honor what they stand for, I honor what they say in terms of being earth and water protectors,” said protester Robert O’Neil in New York. “They want nothing but clean water for their area at Standing Rock. That’s the simple truth. They don’t want to play any games, they just want to have clean water and they have every right to that on their sacred land.”
Construction of the 1,172-mile (1,885-km) pipeline is nearly done. The only work left in North Dakota is the segment to run under the lake, Energy Transfer said last week. The company has been moving drilling equipment to the site in anticipation of being able to start tunneling later this month.
Energy Transfer has said the pipeline would be a more efficient and safer way to transport oil from the Bakken shale of North Dakota to the Midwest and onto the U.S. Gulf Coast
