The late Sen. Daniel Moynihan, D-N.Y., was fond of saying, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”
In the case of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, the opposition believes they are indeed entitled to their own facts despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. As they lost on those facts and the law, opponents turned to political allies to stop a project that was duly approved and is nearing completion.
On Sept. 9, the Obama administration issued an administrative order temporarily halting construction on Dakota Access at Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation. Two weeks later, a United Nations special envoy called for the pipeline’s construction to stop after tribal leaders appealed to the U.N.
These highly unusual political interventions come at the behest of pipeline opponents who lost in court and the regulatory process. To stop a legal and properly-permitted project, they are going outside the law.
To better understand how the rule of law is being circumvented, go back a few years.
The Dakota Access Pipeline, which will deliver domestic crude oil from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois 1,172 miles away, had skeptics from the start. That’s perfectly normal for a project of this size and scope. To address skeptics and outright opponents, federal and state governments, and project organizers, arranged hundreds of meetings to listen to concerns, collect feedback and address criticisms.
Project leaders participated in 559 meetings in communities along the pipeline route. There were 43 regulatory hearings, public meetings and open houses where people could share their concerns with public officials.
Regarding specific tribal concerns, the Army Corps of Engineers participated in 389 meetings with 55 tribes. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe had nearly a dozen meetings with the corps — they refused or did not show up to several others.
The route was adjusted in response to some of the criticisms, and every North Dakota landowner whose property the pipeline crosses consented to the use of their land.
The pipeline did not appear out of nowhere in July. This summer’s construction is the end phase of a planning process in which opponents participated — by invitation — over the course of more than two years.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s protests have been joined by other tribes, activists and celebrities. They demand the government rescind its approval of the pipeline because of their dissatisfaction with part of its route near — but not through — the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.
Critics make two primary claims. One is that the route encroaches on sacred sites. The other is that it jeopardizes the tribe’s drinking water.
But the existing route has been set for the past two years. It never crosses into the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The protested part of the route does not run through untouched land, but along an existing energy right-of-way that contains electric lines and a natural gas pipeline.
The Missouri River, the body of water the pipeline would cross, is already crossed by eight energy pipelines. A newer, more technologically advanced pipeline will not pose a greater risk to the water. Moreover, the tribe’s water intake is being moved 70 miles away.
Interestingly, although protesters hold signs mentioning water, when the Standing Rock Sioux tribe sued to halt construction of the pipeline it sued over historic sites, not water quality. Perhaps they knew the water permitting issue is a loser in court.
On Sept. 9, a federal District Court judge rejected the tribe’s claims that the Army Corps of Engineers did not properly approve the pipeline. Minutes later, the Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, and the Secretary of the Army ordered a temporary halt to construction. The New York Times called the order “an unusual intervention.”
The department ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to go back and double-check its pipeline approvals. That looks suspiciously like a political fishing expedition to try to find an excuse to block the pipeline.
Unable to persuade regulators or the courts to stop the pipeline, opponents have turned to friends in high places.
This is exactly the sort of insider political trading that so many Americans of all political persuasions are sick of seeing. Americans are losing faith in our political institutions precisely because they think the powerful and well-connected use their influence to bypass procedures the rest of us have to follow.
This pipeline has cleared every hurdle in four states and 50 counties. The Army Corps of Engineers gave its approval. Construction is about 60 percent complete at a cost of more than $2.5 billion.
A political intervention now will do more than squander $2.5 billion, lay off thousands of workers and block access to an important supply of domestic energy. It will further undermine faith in the American political process at a time when that faith is at historic lows. Surely it would be best to stop the politics and let the proper legal and regulatory processes work.
Craig Stevens is a spokesman for the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now Coalition. MAIN is a project of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council, with members in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Illinois – the states crossed by the Dakota Access Pipeline. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
