President Obama declined to assess the impact of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Native Americans, when asked, on Wednesday, at a town hall meeting in Laos.
The President lauded the young Malaysian woman who brought up the issue, saying she raised “a great question,” but claimed to be unaware of the specifics.
“Some of these issues are caught up with laws and treaties, and so I can’t give you details on this particular case,” Obama said. “I’d have to go back to my staff and find out how we are doing on this one.”
The administration is currently battling the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is suing to stop construction of Dakota Access.
Lawyers for the tribe say that the crude oil vessel threatens lands and waters that the Sioux hold sacred. They say that the Army Corps of Engineers should never have approved of the project.
A federal judge in Washington is expected to issue a ruling on the case this Friday. On Tuesday, US District Judge James Boasberg partially granted an emergency request filed by the Standing Rock Sioux, to immediately halt Dakota Access construction near cultural landmarks.
The Malaysian woman who raised the matter had specifically asked Obama: “In your capacity, what can you do to ensure the protection of ancestral land, the supply of clean water and also [that] environmental justice is upheld?”
While declining to address the thorny Dakota Access issue, the President defended his record, saying his administration has made “unprecedented investment” in American Indian communities.
“What I can tell you is that we have actually restored more rights among Native Americans to their ancestral lands, sacred sights, waters, [and] hunting grounds,” he said. “We have done a lot more work on that over the last eight years than we had in the previous twenty [or] thirty years. And this is something that I hope will continue as we go forward.”
“It is an excellent question,” he added.
Despite his administration’s approval of Dakota Access, President Obama encouraged environmental conservation efforts last month at Lake Tahoe, by noting that the nearby Washoe Tribe view the body of water as “sacred.”
Shocking images of protests over Dakota Access circulated widely on social media last weekend, when demonstrators confronted workers doing construction, and were met with security guards wielding mace and attack dogs.
On Tuesday, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein visited the site of the protest, and spray painted “I approve this message” on a bulldozer.
On Wednesday, a North Dakota judge issued a warrant for her arrest, on misdemeanor counts of trespassing and “criminal mischief,” according to The Guardian. The judge also issued a warrant for the arrest of her vice presidential candidate, Ajamu Baraka.
Stein had said in a statement that North Dakota officials should “press charges against the real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs.”
