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| Energy Transfer bulldozed burial places on Sept. 3, 2016 |
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 29, 2024
STANDING ROCK LAKOTA NATION -- Standing Rock's burial place of an elite warrior society was bulldozed by Energy Transfer. While Water Protectors rushed to defend the sacred place, the security hired by Dakota Access Pipeline brought in vicious attack dogs.
The Standing Rock Lakota Nation has filed a new fedral lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers in Washington describing its threat to the water, and how Energy Transfer bulldozed the burial places of their elite warrior society. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe demands the immediate shut down of the pipeline.
In a separate lawsuit in North Dakota state court, Energy Transfer is carrying out a fishing expedition, serving media and Water Protectors with third party subpoenas for the case slated in court for February 2025.
In this case, the pipeline company is suing Greenpeace and Red Warrior Society, and two Red Warrior Water Protectors. Greenpeace refers to the lawsuit as a frivolous $300 million SLAPP lawsuit. Greenpeace now has a new report on the pipeline's environmental risks, and the threat to the water of millions of people who live along the Missouri River. The new report strengthens Standing Rock's new lawsuit.
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| Security hired by Energy Transfer brought in attack dogs, many Water Protectors were bitten defending the sacred place. |
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| Defending the sacred, women on the frontlines as Energy Transfer bulldozed burial places. |
It was on September 3, 2016, that Energy Transfer destroyed up to 28 burials of ancestors of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. It was done to avoid the consultation process for historic properties, which is required under the National Historic Preservation Act, the lawsuit filed by Standing Rock states.
"From approximately August 30 -- September 2, 2016 an internationally-recognized expert in the identification of traditional cultural properties from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Tim Mentz, Sr., conducted a reconnaissance-level survey near the pipeline route on private property, upon which he was invited."
"Mentz found 'one of the most significant archaeological finds in North Dakota in many years … (including a burial ground) associated with an elite warrior society.' He predicted that these sites 'would be destroyed by construction of the pipeline,'" the lawsuit states.
"On September 3, 2016, Energy Transfer LP’s contractors relocated their heavy equipment approximately 20 miles to the property surveyed by Mentz, and graded and dug eight to ten feet into the soil along the pipeline route, digging up and destroying the burials and stone features associated with the graves."
The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty describes this area as unceded lands. Under the "bad mens clause," in the Fort Laramie Treaty, the U.S. government is required to punish those who commit any wrong against members of the tribe, the lawsuit states.
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| Women on the frontlines rushed to protect the burial places of ancestors from DAPL's bulldozers. |
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| Energy Transfer's bulldozers destroying burial places. |
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| When the dogs were brought in and told to attack Water Protectors, it signaled an alarm around the world, and resulted in thousands who came to stand in resistance. |
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed the new lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, arguing that the Dakota Access Pipeline is operating illegally and must be shut down.
"The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, also referred to as DAPL, due to concerns that it violates the tribe’s sovereignty, endangers sacred cultural sites and threatens to pollute the tribe’s water supply," North Dakota Monitor reports.
The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over the section of the pipeline that passes under Lake Oahe — a reservoir on the Missouri River — roughly a half-mile upstream from the Standing Rock Nation.
The tribe in a 34-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia argues the Army Corps flouted federal regulations by allowing the pipeline to operate without an easement, sufficient study of possible environmental impacts or the necessary emergency spill response plans, among other alleged violations.
“We are fighting for our rights and the water that is life for Oceti Sakowin tribes,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire said during a news conference the afternoon of Indigenous Peoples Day.
The lawsuit was triggered in part by a 2024 engineering report that raised questions about the construction of the pipeline crossing below Lake Oahe, representatives of the tribe said. The report states that up to 1.4 million gallons of bentonite clay-based drilling mud used in the horizontal directional drilling process was not fully accounted for in construction records.Continue reading https://dailymontanan.com/2024/10/15/standing-rock-sioux-tribe-files-new-lawsuit-over-dapl/
In the case of Greenpeace in North Dakota's state court, Greenpeace says Energy Transfer is not turning over documents.
Attorneys representing environmental activist group Greenpeace have asked a North Dakota judge to penalize Dakota Access Pipeline developer Energy Transfer for allegedly refusing to turn over documents related to the company’s track record for safety, reports North Dakota Monitor.
Energy Transfer is also before the Minnesota Supreme Court in an attempt to get the internal communications of Unicorn Riot media while it was covering Standing Rock.
Unicorn Riot is based in Minnesota, but the ongoing court case is before the North Dakota state court. Unicorn Riot media provided breaking news coverage of the resistance to Dakota Access Pipeline.
The ACLU told the Minnesota Supreme Court in October that the attempt to gain access to Unicorn Riot's internal communications, including communications from its sources, violates a Minnesota law that protects freedom of the press.
"The Minnesota Free Flow of Information Act (MFFIA) protects any person engaged in newsgathering from being compelled to disclose 'any unpublished information' in 'any proceeding” by 'any court,' the ACLU told the court.https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2024/10/10.21.24-Unicorn-Riot-Respondents-Brief.pdf
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| Energy Transfer destroying burial places for its oil pipeline. |
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Files New Federal DAPL Lawsuit Demanding Immediate Shut Down of Pipeline
by Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Oct. 14, 2024
Standing Rock/Fort Yates, ND -Today, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed a historic lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking immediate shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, pending full compliance with federal laws and regulations. The Tribe claims the operation of DAPL violates the federal Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, among other important laws and regulations, and the Tribe is at great risk as a result. The lawsuit addresses the need to protect Standing Rock’s water, cultural resources, and treaty rights threatened by the Corps by its failure to regulate DAPL, despite the lack of a required easement since 2020 and absence of a lawful environmental impact analysis.The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,174 mile-long hazardous liquid material pipeline with an original capacity of 574,000 barrels per day. The Dakota Access Pipeline crosses into unceded treaty lands guaranteed by the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie to the Oceti Sakowin Oyate (“Seven Council Fires,” commonly known as Great Sioux Nation) at the crossing of the Heart River in present-day central North Dakota. Originally rerouted from a crossing above Bismarck, North Dakota, the pipeline crosses the Missouri River at the mouth of the Cannon Ball river on the
Lake Oahe reservoir, less than one-half mile upstream from the Standing Rock reservation. On March 25, 2020, the D.C. Circuit Court vacated the easement, due to defendants’ failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. §4231 et seq ..Standing Rock v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 471, F.Supp.3d 71, 77-78 (D.D.C. 2020).
The lawsuit raises these treaty rights violations along with several other issues, including the intentional destruction of Native American burials and traditional cultural properties by Energy Transfer LP. Under the National Historic Preservation Act Section 11 0(k) mandates federal agencies like the Corps to ensure no federal permits issued to any applicant that intentionally avoids Section 106 consultation or intentionally adversely affects a historic property. 54 U.S.C. §306113. The case recalls Energy Transfer’s September 3, 2016 destruction of burial sites and
stone features identified by the Tribe’s expert on traditional cultural and historical sites, Makoche Wowapi. This intentional destruction, the Tribe argues, renders Energy Transfer ineligible for any easement given the intentional adverse effects to historic and cultural properties.
The case also calls attention to the 2022 federal debarment of Energy Transfer due to 23 criminal convictions in Pennsylvania for polluting the water. Under Article 1 of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, the United States guaranteed it would keep “bad men” out of Sioux Treaty territory. The lawsuit argues that allowing Energy Transfer (a corporate “person” and “bad man”) to operate DAPL on Treaty land is an abuse of Corps discretion and a treaty violation. In addition, the debarment renders Energy Transfer ineligible for the critical NWP 12 easement across Lake Oahe, currently still under consideration by the U.S. Army Corps.
about whether the water from Mni Sose that has given life to our people for centuries, will be safe tomorrow.”
This last concern is highlighted by the lawsuit’s claim of a violation of the Clean Water Act, which requires Energy Transfer LP to submit a rational Facility Response Plan for DAPL designed to clean up a worst case discharge of oil. The Tribe has only received redacted plans which fail to provide practicable solutions and no realistic process to remediate a spill.
Excerpts from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. Army Corps of Engineers
https://turtletalk.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1-complaint-1.pdf
"On approximately September 3, 2016, upon information and belief, Energy Case 1:24-cv-02905 Document 1 Filed 10/14/24 Page 3 of 34 4 Transfer LP’s contractors intentionally destroyed up to 28 burials of ancestors of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe located near the pipeline route, by excavating and grading land containing the sites. This was done for the purpose of circumventing the review and consultation process for historic properties that is prescribed in section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”). 54 U.S.C. §306108. The pipeline operator is not eligible for the required easement because such action violated section 110(k) of the NHPA, which prohibits federal assistance to any applicant that intentionally destroys historic properties to evade the section 106 review process. 54 U.S.C. §306113.
38. From approximately August 30-September 2, 2016 an internationally-recognized expert in the identification of traditional cultural properties from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Tim Mentz, Sr., conducted a reconnaissance-level survey near the pipeline route on private property, upon which he was invited. Mentz found “one of the most significant archaeological finds in North Dakota in many years … (including a burial ground) associated with an elite warrior society.” He predicted that these sites “would be destroyed by construction of the pipeline.”
40. Upon information and belief, the following day, September 3, 2016, Energy Transfer LP’s contractors relocated their heavy equipment approximately 20 miles to the property surveyed by Mentz, and graded and dug eight to ten feet into the soil along the pipeline route, digging up and destroying the burials and stone features associated with the graves.
40. Upon information and belief, the following day, September 3, 2016, Energy Transfer LP’s contractors relocated their heavy equipment approximately 20 miles to the property surveyed by Mentz, and graded and dug eight to ten feet into the soil along the pipeline route, digging up and destroying the burials and stone features associated with the graves.
41. The intentional destruction of Native American burials and traditional cultural properties renders an applicant for a federal permit, including the requested easement to cross Oahe Reservoir currently under consideration by the defendants, ineligible for such permit.
42. Article 1 of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty contains the “bad man clause,” which codifies the commitment by the United States to punish those who commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians and keep such wrongdoers out of plaintiff’s Treaty lands, including the unceded land identified in Article 11 of the Treaty, and over which DAPL crosses.
134. From approximately August 30 to September 2, 2016, a Tribal expert in the identification of traditional cultural properties from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Tim Mentz, Sr., conducted a reconnaissance-level survey near the pipeline route on private property, upon which he was invited. Mentz discovered 28 burial sites associated with a warrior society of plaintiff’s Tribe.
135. On September 2, 2016, Mentz informed this Court of his findings in a declaration. Case 1:24-cv-02905 Document 1 Filed 10/14/24 Page 27 of 34 28 The declaration was served on defendants and on Energy Transfer LP.
136. Upon information and belief, on September 3, 2016, with intent to avoid the requirements of NHPA Section 106, Energy Transfer LP’s contractors relocated their heavy equipment approximately 20 miles to the property surveyed by Mentz, and excavated and graded the pipeline route, digging up and destroying the burials and stone features associated with the graves.
137. Any intentional destruction of Native American burials and traditional cultural properties by Energy Transfer LP contractors renders Energy Transfer LP ineligible for the requested easement to cross Oahe Reservoir, currently under consideration by the defendants.
138. Under section 3 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (“Advisory Council”) is authorized to “advise the President and Congress on matters related to historic preservation, (and) recommend measures to coordinate activities of Federal, State and local agencies and private institutions and individuals relating to historic preservation…”54 U.S.C. §304102(1).
139. The Advisory Council has promulgated regulations for agencies to follow in implementing the NHPA section 106 process. 36 CFR Part 800. The regulations acknowledge Tribal rights to consultation, evaluation and the determination of impacts to properties of religious and cultural significance to Tribes, both within the present-day boundaries of Indian Reservations and throughout judicially-recognized Treaty and aboriginal boundaries. 36 CFR §800.2(c)(2)(ii)(D) (“Federal agencies should be aware that frequently historic properties of religious and cultural significance are located on ancestral, aboriginal or ceded lands of Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations and should consider that when complying with the procedures in this part”). Case 1:24-cv-02905 Document 1 Filed 10/14/24 Page 28 of 34 29 140. In Article 5 of the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, the United States recognized as Sioux Country a vast tract beginning on the Missouri River up to the Platte River, and west to the Big Horn mountains, and north to the Heart River in present-day North Dakota. 11 Stat. 749.
141. In Article 11 of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, the lands from the Heart River to the Cannon Ball River over which DAPL crosses are characterized as “unceded” Sioux lands. 15 Stat. 639.
142. The “Bad Man” clause is found in Article 1 of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. This provision obligates the United States to punish those who commit any wrong upon the person or property of the members of plaintiff Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and remove such wrongdoers from plaintiff’s Treaty lands. This includes the unceded land identified in Article 11 of the Treaty, and on which Energy Transfer LP intentionally destroyed Tribal burial sites.
143. North Dakota law prohibits the unlawful removal of dead bodies, which constitutes a Class C felony. NDCC §23-06-24. 144. The destruction of Tribal burials by Energy Transfer LP took place approximately one-half mile north of the present-day boundary of the Standing Rock Reservation. Upon information and belief, Energy Transfer LP violated North Dakota law governing sanctity of graves. Id.
145. If these events occurred one-half mile south, the intentional destruction of the burials by Energy Transfer LP would violate Standing Rock Tribal law. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Code of Justice, Title 32, Chap. 12."
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