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This photo shows a section of the Dakota Access Pipeline under construction where several clashes between pipeline protesters and security have taken place in recent weeks, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016 near the town of St. Anthony in Morton County, N.D. . (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
This photo shows a section of the Dakota Access Pipeline under construction where several clashes between pipeline protesters and security have taken place in recent weeks, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016 near the
The Army Corps of Engineers' abrupt green lighting of the Dakota Access Pipeline, without tribal consultation, "is unlawful and unacceptable," Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., four Senate colleagues and senior House members said in a letter to President Trump.
The Corps announced Tuesday it will grant the pipeline owner a 30-year easement on a disputed piece of land under a Missouri River reservoir. The go-ahead came just two weeks after President Trump ordered an expedited review of the controversial project.
"The arbitrary and capricious decision to grant the easement now ignores the rights of tribal governments, circumvents legal requirement and stifles the voices of millions of people who have expressed concerns over the process to date," Cantwell and colleagues said in a letter to Trump.
"Granting this easement without meaningful tribal consultation, or proper preview of environmental impacts, is unlawful and morally acceptable."
The Corps decision sets the stage for another legal battle over a unilateral action from the Trump administration.
The pipeline through North Dakota is fiercely opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation is less than a mile from the pipeline. The tribe gets its drinking water from Lake Oahe, and has feared that any spill would foul its water supply and that of a downstream reservation in South Dakota.
"As native peoples, we have been knocked down again: But we will get back up, we will rise above the greed and corruption that has plagued our peoples since first contact," Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, said in a statement.
The $3.7 billion pipeline has stirred nationwide protest. The Seattle City Council voted Tuesday to end the city's financial relationship with Wells Far Bank over the bank's support of the pipeline project.
The Cantwell letter noted the Corps' rush job. It has been the policy of the Corps to wait at least 14 days between notifying Congress that it will grant an easement, and actually doing so. The abrupt Dakota Access Pipeline easement "violates that policy and circumvents appropriate congressional review," the lawmakers told Trump.
"The United States has both a legal and moral responsibility to uphold its tribal treaty and trust responsibilities," said the letter. "This announcement demonstrates a total disregard for tribal rights, the rule of law, separation of powers, and transparency."
The Trump administration has shown scant regard for any of the above.
It also reversed an Obama administration decision, in December, in which the Corps said it would look at alternative routes for the pipeline that would not impact the Sioux drinking water.
The letter was signed by Cantwell and Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, Ron Wyden, D-Oregon; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, and Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico. Senior Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee signed the letter.
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