Amidst ongoing controversy over the Dakota Access Pipeline, President Obama has finally spoken out, saying that his administration is looking for a way to “reroute” the pipeline to avoid affecting sacred tribal lands at Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

Obama mentioned the strategy during an interview with Now This, saying, “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.”

The pipeline would be more than 1,000 miles long and transport crude oil through Standing Rock Sioux Tribe lands. Environmentalists and indigenous groups have been fighting to stop the project, which if completed would carry 570,000 barrels of light crude oil per day from North Dakota’s Bakken and Three Forks shale formations to Patoka, Illinois, passing through South Dakota and Iowa along the way.

A section of the Dakota Access Pipeline would run underneath the Missouri River, a federally protected waterway. The Standing Rock Sioux Reservation — home to roughly 15,000 members and spanning 2.3 million acres — lies just upstream from that river crossing.

While protests of the pipeline have been ongoing for months, the controversy remained out of the mainstream media until last week, when authorities cracked down on protesters who were camped out on privately-owned land, using tear gas and rubber bullets to remove them.

Actress and outspoken activist Shailene Woodley and journalist Amy Goodman are among the more high-profile names that have been arrested in the course of protesting the pipeline. Other celebrities who have been vocal for the cause are Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, and, now, Chris Hemsworth.

The story of the pipeline protests has also garnered more social media attention in recent days thanks to the latest form of online “activism,” the Facebook check-in.

Obama also addressed the violent nature of the removal of protesters, saying, “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.”

Not everyone is thrilled about Obama’s announcement, however. Sara Shor, U.S. manager for 350.org’s “Keep It In The Ground Campaign,” told Mashable:

“There’s no reroute that doesn’t involve the same risks to water and climate. President Obama breaking the silence on Dakota Access is a testament to the powerful resistance of Indigenous leaders, but he shouldn’t sit back while people are facing violent repression from militarized law enforcement on the ground. The President needs to reject the permit for this pipeline, now.”

Additionally, the National Sheriffs’ Association released an open letter to Obama criticizing his decision to “let [the protests] play out for several more weeks.”

Obama’s comments come almost a year after he rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a proposed 1,200 mile pipeline that would have carried oil from Alberta’s oil sands south to refineries in Texas, where it would have been prepared for export to the world market.

That proposal brought countless protests and lingered for seven years before the Obama administration made its decision.

Source: mashable.com