President prefers to wait ‘several more weeks’ and see if dispute between Native American leaders and the Dakota Access pipeline oil company can be resolved

Barack Obama has suggested the Dakota Access pipeline could be rerouted around sacred Native American lands in comments that are the president’s first on the controversial oil project since police arrested hundreds of indigenous protesters during violent clashes.

After months of pleas from activists in North Dakota to stop construction of a pipeline that the Standing Rock tribe says could contaminate its water supply and threaten its cultural heritage, Obama said in an interview released on Tuesday night that the government was “going to let it play out for several more weeks and determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to the traditions of the first Americans”.

Asked about the high-profile demonstrations against the $3.8bn pipeline, Obama told news website NowThis: “We’re monitoring this closely and I think as a general rule, my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans, and I think that right now the army corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline.”

In the wake of a demonstration that began in April and has grown into an international symbol of indigenous rights and climate change activism, the US army corps of engineers announced in September that it would temporarily halt permits to dig on federal land near or under the Missouri river.

Obama had been silent since the army corp’s announcement, and Energy Transfer Partners, the company operating the pipeline, has rapidly moved forward with construction, in recent days approaching the massive protest camps and river where Native American leaders fear significant damage.

The pipeline is scheduled to transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a refinery near Chicago. Native American leaders said the construction had already disrupted sacred burial grounds.

A judge recently denied a request from tribal leadership to block construction and the resulting protests have led local police to make more than 400 arrests, with law enforcement officials accusing Native American activists, journalists and film-makers of rioting, criminal trespass, resisting arrest and other serious felony charges.

The law enforcement response has sparked significant backlash. Videos and live streams over the last two weeks have shown a highly militarized police force surrounding unarmed activists with army tanks.

Asked about “shocking footage” showing police firing rubber bullets at protesters, Obama said: “It’s a challenging situation. I think that my general rule when I talk to governors and state and local officials whenever they’re dealing with protests, including for example during the Black Lives Matters protests, is there’s an obligation for protesters to be peaceful and there’s an obligation for authorities to show restraint.”

He continued: “I want to make sure that as everybody is exercising their constitutional rights to be heard, that both sides are refraining from situations that might result in people being hurt.”

His comments comes as a group with the United Nations investigates allegations of human rights abuses after jailed Native Americans said they were held in cages and faced cruel and inhumane treatment behind bars.



Police have used pepper spray, Tasers and batons against activists who have insisted they are remaining peaceful.

Several protesters recently released from local jails told the Guardian at the Standing Rock camps that the Morton county sheriff’s office was not prepared to process hundreds of those arrested, and that they wrote numbers and charges on inmates’ bodies to track them while also temporarily detaining groups in cages that they said seemed like “dog kennels”.

Activists have criticized Obama for staying silent and were dismayed when the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, released a short statement saying she believed “all voices should be heard and all views considered in federal infrastructure projects”.

Last week it was also revealed that Republican candidate Donald Trump has close financial ties to the pipeline operator.

Xhopakelxhit, a Native American activist who has been at the Standing Rock camps for more than a month, said she was disappointed Obama didn’t condemn the police tactics against peaceful protesters.

“Why has he not made a more forceful statement in favor of us? He’s basically trying to cover all his bases without actually doing anything,” said the protester, who is a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe. “It’s not surprising but it’s a coward’s way out.”

Xhopakelxhit urged Obama to say that he finds the “violence committed by the riot police to be reprehensible” and to have the department of justice investigate the continuing human rights violations.

Given how close the pipeline is to the river, Xhopakelxhit also said she was wary of any last-minute efforts to change construction plans. “It’s completely laughable on every level and utterly ridiculous that they would be able to reroute at this point.”