Cannon Ball, N.D.—The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said today that President 
Donald Trump’s executive action towards an approval of an easement for 
the Dakota Access Pipeline risks contaminating tribal and American water 
supplies while disregarding treaty rights. The Trump administration’s 
politically motivated decision violates the law and the Tribe will take 
legal action to fight it.

“President Trump is legally required to honor our treaty rights and 
provide a fair and reasonable pipeline process,” said Dave Archambault II, 
chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “Americans know this pipeline 
was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent. The 
existing pipeline route risks infringing on our treaty rights, contaminating 
our water and the water of 17 million Americans downstream.”

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers rejected DAPL's request for an easement 
late last year, finding that the agency had failed to fully consider 
the impacts of the pipeline on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Department 
of the Army pledged toconduct a full environmental review of the Missouri 
River crossing and evaluate alternative sites, which would not put the 
Tribe at risk of an oil spill. However, that environmental review would 
be circumvented under today's Executive Order, allowing the project to 
immediately resume construction.

Trump’s press secretary said on Monday that Trump intended to approve 
the easement with an aim towards job creation. But tribal leaders note 
the bulk of pipeline jobs are in pipeline construction. The pipeline 
only creates a total of 15 permanent jobs in North Dakota. A reroute 
would protect the Tribe’s water and create hundreds of jobs, Archambault 
said.

Standing Rock said it’s not a matter of if, but when DAPL will leak. 
Sunoco, one of the American companies operating DAPL, has a poor record 
on pipeline safety and spill prevention. Data from the Pipeline and 
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, show operators have reported 
about 200 crude oil spills per year, on average. More than 176,000 gallons 
of oil spilled in western North Dakota last month alone.

Archambault said Trump’s decision appears to be a political payback. 
“By granting the easement, Trump is risking our treaty rights and water 
supply to benefit his wealthy contributors and friends at DAPL,” he said. 
“We are not opposed to energy independence. We are opposed to reckless 
and politically motivated development projects, like DAPL, that ignore 
our treaty rights and risk our water. Creating a second Flint does not 
make America great again.”