BISMARK, ND—The North Dakota Public Service Commission has scheduled a hearing to discuss the disturbance of tribal artifacts during construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
According to the commission, the firm waited too long—10 days to be exact—to notify the state after stone cairns and other artifacts were uncovered at a construction site last October. The firm also slightly modified the route of the pipeline without informing the state, the commission said in issuing a $15,000 fine against the wealthy backers of the project.
Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline’s parent company, has disputed the fine and the commission has scheduled an August 16 hearing in Bismarck to discuss the matter.
Additionally, the commission is holding a hearing on August 17 to discuss the removal of trees and shrubs along another portion of the pipeline, the Associated Press reported. Fines of up to $400,000 are possible in that matter, the AP said.
The pipeline became fully operational on June 1 after the Trump administration approved the final portion over the objections of tribes. It is shipping oil through North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois and Iowa.
“Nobody thought any politician would have the guts to approve that final leg and I just closed my eyes and said ‘Do It,’” the president said.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe are asking a federal judge to set aside the Trump administration’s approval of the project. At press time, a hearing had not been scheduled on their requests.
