A top House Democrat will fly to North Dakota on Sunday to stand with members of an Indian tribe after the federal government moved to stop an oil pipeline from crossing their land.
Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., announced Friday that he plans to spend Sept. 11 in “solidarity” with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the Dakota Access pipeline, which aims to cross the tribe’s only source of fresh drinking water.
His decision came shortly after the Obama administration stepped in Friday to request the construction of the 1,100-mile pipeline be stopped before reaching Lake Oahe on the tribe’s land.
Grijalva has been a key supporter of the president’s climate change agenda in the House, and a major opponent of the GOP’s energy agenda that promotes oil and gas development over renewable energy.
His travel plans follow a rollercoaster ride of news Friday involving the heavily-contested pipeline. First, a federal judge denied the tribe’s request for an injunction against the pipeline, then, with little warning, the Department of the Army, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior called on the company to halt the pipeline temporarily so they could initiate a review. The pipeline had already been granted a permit by the agencies.
The agencies want the company to voluntarily pause construction within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe until they complete their review.
“The announcement is a significant reversal of the DAPL construction process to date,” said Grijalva’s office. “Despite the federal government’s legal trust responsibility to ensure federally permitted projects do not threaten historically or culturally significant tribal places, the trust lands of tribal nations, or the waters that run through them, the Standing Rock Sioux were never consulted about the DAPL, which will run less than a mile from their reservation.”
Grijalva says the government’s failure to consult the tribe means it potentially violated a number of federal laws, including the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
Grijalva also joined with California Democrat Rep. Raul Ruiz Thursday in requesting a study by the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency, to probe the adequacy of federal programs when it comes to protecting tribal health and environmental quality.
