Further to post on Standing Rock, two updates:

International – Tribal representatives have been invited to speak at a hearing at the IACHR in Washington, DC on Dec. 9, , 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., on the “Human Rights Situation of Indigenous Persons in the Context of Projects and Extractive Industries in the United States,” at the Padilha Vidal Room (TL Level), GSB Building of the Organization of American States, 1889 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006.

U.S. – On Sunday, December 4, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) effectively put the pipeline project on hold. It decided not to grant an easement for portions of the DAPL sited on federal land on the current record, noting concerns over environmental justice, withheld information (including risk analysis), the history of dispossession of the Great Sioux Nation, the U.S. Mineral Leasing Act’s direction “to protect the environment, those who rely on fish and wildlife in the area for subsistence, and the public,” and the particular attention to be given to environmental effects of a project on Tribal resources under NEPA (the statute requiring environmental review). The ACOE will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate these and other issues.

Hillary Hoffman’s blog is a great analysis of some aspects of the ACOE action and domestic law issues.

An excellent analysis of the ACOE action by Jamison Colburn can be found at NEPA Lab.