OBAMA FLOATS DAKOTA ACCESS ‘REROUTE’: President Barack Obama waded into the tense battle over the Dakota Access pipeline late Tuesday to deliver a big win to the tribal and environmental groups fighting the project. “As a general rule, my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans,” Obama told NowThis News. “And I think, right now, that the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline. So we’re going to let it play out for several more weeks and determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that is properly attentive to the traditions of the first Americans.”
Reading between the lines: Dakota Access’ backers say the pipeline is more than 60 percent complete, making it difficult to execute a reroute that would significantly steer clear of the Missouri River crossing that the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their allies have publicly protested for months. But proposing a different route may also expose divisions among the groups protesting the $3.7 billion four-state pipeline — between those who just want to see Dakota Access moved away from the Sioux’s land and many others who want to see the project killed outright.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-energy/2016/11/dakota-access-may-have-to-move-obama-says-217195
