The Guardian reports that the U.S. Army sent a letter, dated 7 February, to member of Congress Raúl Grijalva, saying it would grant a permit for the construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. Work could resume as early as 8 February.
"I have determined that there is no cause for completing any additional environmental analysis," wrote Douglas W Lamon, the senior official performing the duties of assistant secretary of the army, wrote in a notice to the federal register.
More recent news in Standing Rock from Feb 9:
The restarting of the drilling operation, which a pipeline spokeswoman confirmed on Thursday morning, began soon after the US government gave the oil corporation the green light to proceed on Wednesday. The controversial pipeline could be transporting crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois within three months.
At the Standing Rock camps in Cannon Ball – where activists have been stationed since last spring to fight the project – indigenous and environmental organizers vowed to stay put and continue opposing the pipeline.
[Continues...]
And from Feb 11:
Army veterans from across the country have arrived in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, or are currently en route after the news that Donald Trump's administration has allowed the oil corporation to finish drilling across the Missouri river.
The growing group of military veterans could make it harder for police and government officials to try to remove hundreds of activists who remain camped near the construction site and, some hope, could limit use of excessive force by law enforcement during demonstrations.
"We are prepared to put our bodies between Native elders and a privatized military force," said Elizabeth Williams, a 34-year-old air force veteran, who arrived at Standing Rock with a group of vets late on Friday. "We've stood in the face of fire before. We feel a responsibility to use the skills we have."
Previous stories:
Army Corp [sic] of Engineers Now Accepting Public Comment on the Dakota Access Pipeline
Army Corps of Engineers Blocks the Dakota Access Pipeline and many others in the archives.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 26 2017, @11:43PM
The loser president's schtick has been to ignore norms, but his anti-social behavior is not valid grounds for eliminating traditions of respecting the actions of prior presidents.
How about norms such as using the power of the office of president exploiting traditions topublicly humiliate [washingtonpost.com] rivals? Here, Trump was invited to the 2011 White House Correspondents' Association dinner and then publicly joked about by both President Obama and Seth Meyer at length. Then the media proceeded to speculate for years (up to the present day) as to how that made Trump feel. If we're going to speak of alleged norms, we should note the norm of ignoring norms when they don't suit previous holders of the office.