The company behind the highly contested Dakota Access oil pipeline will be traveling to Washington soon to negotiate a way forward after the Obama administration halted the project last week in North Dakota.
“We intend to meet with officials in Washington to understand their position and reiterate our commitment to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline into operation,” said Kelcy Warren, chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the 1,100-mile pipeline, in a Tuesday memo to employees.
The federal government stepped in to halt the project being built across tribal lands last week after a federal judge rejected an Indian tribe’s request to stop the project. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is leading the growing protest against the pipeline, argues that it would jeopardize their water supply, while saying the company already has damaged ceremonial grounds.
Warren said he wants to avoid a public relations battle with activists, government and tribal leaders over the project. But that may be unavoidable at this point, he conceded to employees.
“Our corporate mindset has long been to keep our head down and do our work,” Warren said. “It has not been my preference to engage in a media/PR battle. However, misinformation has dominated the news, so we will work to communicate with the government and media more clearly in the days to come,” he wrote.
The head of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Chairman Dave Archambault II, said in response to the memo that protesters are gearing up for a fight, now that the company has made clear it is not backing down from seeking to build the pipeline over its land.
“The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will continue to explore all legal, legislative and administrative options to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline,” Archambault said. “The pipeline has already led to the destruction of our sacred sites.”
“Energy Transfer Partners has demonstrated time and time again that the bottom line for them is money,” he said. “The bottom line for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is and will always be protecting our lands, people, water and sacred sites from the devastation of this pipeline.
“Our fight isn’t over until there is permanent protection of our people and resources from the pipeline,” he said.
Warren advised employees who want to help defend the project to contact their “elected representatives” at the state and federal levels and “tell them how important this project is to your livelihood.”
“Remind them that the company fully complied with the regulatory process and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a nationwide permit and other essential permits for our work,” Warren said.
But he wants employees, first and foremost, to do their jobs “in a thoughtful and professional manner.”
He said each employee’s “commitment demonstrates to the world that we are playing by the rules and are committed to completing this important infrastructure project.”
Warren also asked that employees help explain to “friends and neighbors the facts about the work that you are doing.” He explained that there has been an “enormous amount of misinformation out there and you are the best ambassadors to the public.”
At the same time, Warren expressed his commitment to working out the issue. Dozens of protests against the pipeline were being held across the country Tuesday, including one in Washington.
