The Society for American Archaeology is urging the Army Corps of Engineers to reevaluate the plans and permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“On behalf of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), I write to you urgently regarding the process by which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has handled its National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106 responsibilities in relation to Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL),” SAA president Diane Gifford-Gonzalez wrote in an open letter issued on Tuesday.
The SAA, the world’s largest organization of professional archaeologists, also sent the Sept. 13 letter to President Barack Obama, multiple federal agencies including the Justice Department and Department of the Interior, and the governor of each state the pipeline will run through.
The 1,134 mile, $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline is slated to bring crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields to Patoka, Illinois. The Sacred Stone Camp, a gathering of thousands of members of over 100 Native American tribes near Fort Yates, North Dakota, has spent months protesting and blockading construction of the pipeline.