What's Fair Payment for Pipeline Beneath Tribal Land Without Consent?

"A Marathon Petroleum subsidiary was ordered to pay $187 million for trespassing, but in January a Trump official reduced the judgement to $4 million. Now, Biden wants another look."

"Tribal landowners tried for years to get fair compensation for an oil pipeline that cuts across the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, only to see officials and the courts dismiss their concerns.

But now, thanks to new leadership at the Department of Interior, the federal government is taking a fresh look at their claims. Some see it as a sign that, not only might their voices finally be heard in this case, but also that a turnaround has begun in the nation’s long history of injustices toward Indigenous people.

For Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation members with land allotments at Fort Berthold, an encouraging signal came earlier this month. That’s when the Department of Interior’s Acting Secretary Scott de la Vega scrapped the Trump administration’s decision to reduce a $187 million penalty assessed against the oil company that owns the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline for trespassing on the reservation for seven years after its contract lapsed."

Judy Fahys reports for Inside Climate News March 28, 2021.

Source: Inside Climate News, 03/29/2021