Dakota

A three-judge panel in a federal appellate court in Washington, DC, on Sunday denied a request from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for an injunction to block ongoing construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline. Backers of the four-state project hailed the court action, and the Native American opposition vowed to continue their fight.

Contrasting action took place on the North Dakota plains and inside a federal appellate court in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, and none of it resolved the controversy surrounding the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline project now under construction.

Labor unions on Monday alerted President Obama to what they consider to be a gross error by his administration in interfering last month with the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline at a time when the courts are still sorting out lawsuits by the backers and opponents.

The Obama administration on Friday released a “consultation schedule” with Native American tribes that was originally called for earlier in the month following court rulings against the tribes’ attempts to shut down the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline now under construction between North Dakota and an oil hub in south-central Illinois.

Whether construction of the $3.8 billion, nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access oil pipeline is completed on schedule early next year will likely be determined by a volatile amalgam of political, regulatory and court actions that should culminate in the next two or three weeks, based on developments in federal court Friday.

While court and regulatory rulings hover over a number of major pipeline infrastructure projects elsewhere in the state, Bismarck-based MDU Resources Group is proceeding with a new natural gas transmission pipeline for far-eastern North Dakota and parts of western Minnesota.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia on Tuesday rejected an emergency filing by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent ongoing construction of the four-state, nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access Pipeline project.

The Labors’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) and a newly created activist group, Bold Iowa, are bumping heads over the four-state, nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access oil pipeline that is now under construction.

A heavy equipment operator working on the four-state, nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Accessoil pipelinein North Dakota died at a hospital in Minot, ND, Friday following head injuries sustained on the job. The man, whose identity has not been released, was working as a subcontractor for the $3.7 billion Energy Transfer Partners’ pipeline project being built by Dakota Access Pipeline LLC. The incident occurred nearly 200 miles north and west of ongoing protests against the project by the Standing Rock Sioux Native American Tribe and some environmental groups near the South Dakota border. The man apparently was working alone and was found by co-workers.