Regulators: Dakota Pipeline Co. Failed To Disclose Native Artifacts

"North Dakota regulators accuse company of failing to disclose the discovery of Native American symbolic stones on a site where construction was planned".

"North Dakota regulators are filing a complaint against the oil company building the Dakota Access pipeline for failing to disclose the discovery of Native American artifacts in the path of construction.

The allegations mark the state’s first formal action against the corporation and add fuel to the claims of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has long argued that the $3.7bn pipeline threatens sacred lands and indigenous cultural heritage.

Julie Fedorchak, chair of the North Dakota public service commission, told the Guardian that on 17 October, pipeline officials found a group of stone cairns –symbolic rock piles that sometimes mark burial grounds – on a site where construction was planned."

Sam Levin reports for the Guardian November 5, 2016.