Tribal Leader Advises DAPL Protesters to Stop Rallying as Fight Moves to Court

Protesters opposing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline should return home now that the battle over the controversial project has shifted to the courts and the US government, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of Native Americans said in a release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault advised in Tuesday’s release that protesters dismantle the camp and return to our homes.

“The camp has brought us this far; now it is time we pivot to the next phase of this struggle," he said. "That will be lead on different fronts like in court, with the new Administration, with Congress, and with the investors."

Last week, the US Army Corps of Engineers decided to halt final-stage construction of the nearly 1,200-pipeline in the state of North Dakota because of concerns over the project’s environmental impact. The agency elected not to issue a permit for drilling beneath Lake Oahe, a reservoir that serves as a major source for water for the Standing Rock Sioux.

“This decision is everything we had asked for: a non-granting of the easement, initiating an Environmental Impact Study, and suggestive of a reroute," Archambault stated in the release.

The tribal leader predicted that Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas company leading the construction, “will face an uphill battle in trying to dismantle the process initiated by this decision.”

On Monday, Jason Miller, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump, told reporters that the incoming leader will wait until he is in office to review the Army Corps’ permit rejection. Archambault asserted that the new administration won’t easily be able to reverse that decision.