MORTON COUNTY, N.D., Nov. 2 (UPI) — President Barack Obama finally addressed the controversial $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline on Wednesday, saying the Army Corps of Engineers is looking at ways to reroute the line.
Dozens of demonstrators have been speaking out against the pipeline in Morton County, N.D., for weeks and many have been arrested by officers attempting to remove them from private land. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has opposed the line for two years.
Nearly 150 people were arrested by police in riot gear last week after an hours-long standoff.
In an interview with Now This News, Obama spoke of the controversy for the first time.
“My view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans,” Obama said. “I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline.”
Native American tribes oppose the pipeline on philosophic and environmental grounds. In his remarks, Obama acknowledged that the land the pipeline is slated to cover is on sacred land.
The president said his administration will let the ordeal play out for a few more weeks and then “determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to the traditions of the First Americans.”
Obama’s administration was criticized in September when it temporarily blocked continuing work on the pipeline after a judge ruled construction could go forward.
Once completed, the pipeline will transport crude oil through North Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota.
“When she makes a mistake, an honest mistake, it ends up being blown up as if it’s just some crazy thing,” he said. “I just want everybody who’s watching to know that Hillary Clinton not only is going to make a great president, and not only is she going to work on the issues that [people] care about most, but I trust her. I know her.
“I wouldn’t be supporting her if I didn’t have absolute confidence in her integrity and her interest in making sure that young people have a better future.”
