North Dakota tribes seek review of pipelines under reservoir
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota's oil-rich Three Affiliated Tribes wants a federal appeals court to quickly decide whether a Texas company needed tribal permission to put an oil pipeline and a natural gas pipeline beneath a Missouri River reservoir.
The tribes requested that the Sacagawea pipeline be halted last month, saying they had no assurances from the company that water supplies would not be harmed.
A federal judge temporarily allowed construction to continue last week. The tribes have appealed.
Paradigm Energy Partners says their $125 million, 70-mile (113 km) oil pipeline project already is complete. The company says it needs to complete its $16.6 million gas pipeline by Nov. 1, or the company's future is in jeopardy.
The Sacagawea pipeline is the second such project being challenged by American Indians in North Dakota.