The existing easement is for the Northern Border Pipeline, a smaller natural gas line, with a smaller construction footprint. The easement has never been surveyed for traditional cultural properties of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Tribe was not afforded the right to survey the corridor for Northern Border and other prior projects, because they were built before the legal rights to consultation on traditional cultural properties were issued in 2000. These rights exist today, but were not properly applied with DAPL. The Tribe’s aboriginal land extends from Wyoming to Iowa, and they have historical camps and ceremonial sites throughout the pipeline route.
