Watching Government: 'Talking to, not past, each other'

Feb. 27, 2017
Construction may have resumed on the final segment of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline (DAPL), but the mistrust and antagonism that were revealed during months of protests there won't be going away any time soon, testimony by witnesses at a Feb. 15 US House Energy and Commerce Committee revealed.

Construction may have resumed on the final segment of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline (DAPL), but the mistrust and antagonism that were revealed during months of protests there won't be going away any time soon, testimony by witnesses at a Feb. 15 US House Energy and Commerce Committee revealed.

Opposition involves natural gas pipelines too. Kim Kann, from Lancaster County, Pa., testified that while construction of Williams Partners' proposed Atlantic Sunrise system may provide the area temporary employment and economic growth, it also would bisect many small family farms and track close to homes.

"In our small, very conservative town, in just 3 weeks, over 500 local residents have pledged to participate in nonviolent civil disobedience to stop this project," Kann told the committee's Energy Subcommittee.

Chad Harrison, a councilman-at-large for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said the tribe conveyed its concerns about building a crude oil pipeline ½ mile upstream of its reservation at the earliest opportunity, even before Energy Transfer Partners applied for the permits in December 2014, he told the subcommittee.

When the Army Corps of Engineers released what Harrison said was a deeply flawed draft environmental assessment in December 2015, it became apparent that decisions would not reflect the pipeline's impact on tribal rights. The Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency also were critical, but ACE issued a final EA in July 2016 with a finding of no significant impact, he said.

Joey Mahmoud, an ETP executive vice-president who also is DAPL's project director, said that while the pipeline "does not cross a single inch of tribal reservation and trust land," its sponsor and ACE reached out to 55 Native American groups, including the Standing Rock Sioux, during the 2-year permitting process.

'At variance with facts'

"Perhaps the greatest irony is that the Standing Rock [tribe] just relocated their Missouri River water intake to a point more than 70 miles downstream from the pipeline crossing, but less than 2 miles downstream from a railroad crossing that is known to carry large amounts of crude oil in tank cars. To cast this as a dispute about protection of water resources is, quite simply, at variance with the facts," Mahmoud said.

Protests at the site turned violent, leading to more than 660 arrests for arson, criminal trespass, interference with law enforcement personnel, and in one case, attempted murder, he testified.

More constructive conversations obviously are needed. "It's only by talking to each other, and not past each other, that we will be able to move beyond rhetoric and do what's right for our communities," Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), the full committee's chairman, observed in his opening statement.