In an internal memo released to all partnership employees, the billionaire Chief Executive Officer for Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, Kelcy Warren, expressed his commitment to seeing that the Dakota Access Pipeline is built.

In the memo, released today, Warren states, “We are committed to completing construction and safely operating the Dakota Access Pipeline within the confines of the law.”

In response to Friday’s announcement by the Justice Department, the Department of Interior, and the Army, which halted construction of the pipeline on Federal Land and across the Missouri River and called for the company to ‘voluntarily’ stop work at other locations, Warren states, “We intend to meet with officials in Washington to understand their position and reiterate our commitment to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline into operation.”

Warren even goes so far as to dispute the tribes claims to sacred, cultural and burial sites along to proposed route. “Multiple archaeological studies conducted with state historic preservation offices found no sacred items along the route. State archeologists issued a ‘no significant sites affected’.”

Dakota Access bull dozing burial, sacred and cultural sites.

Linda Black Elk from the Sacred Stone Camp rebukes Warren’s claims, “Dakota Access is blatantly lying. There haven’t been trained archaeologists on site, and if there were, these archaeologists wouldn’t have any clue how to identify Lakota burials from the surface. Tim Mentz, a Standing Rock elder, has been trained in this and has been doing it for decades. This area is indeed adjacent to a natural gas pipeline, but this particular site was never disturbed until Dakota Access recently bulldozed it under last week.”

See video of Tim Mentz detailing sites along the DAPL corridor

In response to the potential impacts on water, Warren states, “Concerns about the pipeline’s impact on the local water supply are unfounded.” He claims the pipeline is safe and would not leak.

From January 2012-2014, North Dakota alone experienced over 300 oil pipeline spills and 750 “oil field incidents”, most having gone unreported to the public for years.

Warren also discusses the companies efforts to “protect” its workers and equipment by working with law enforcement, “I have directed our team to work closely with local, state and federal officials to ensure the safety and protection of our construction contractors and employees, contractors’ equipment, private land and those whose right it is to peacefully protest.”

Energy Transfer has also been working with private security firms as seen in the incident where dogs were biting water protectors.

Private security firm G4S attacking water protectors.

Lastly, Warren encourages his employees to contact members of Congress to support the pipeline, “Contact your elected representatives – all of them – to tell them how important this project is to your livelihood.”

He concludes by expressing his confidence that the pipeline will be built, “I am confident that as long as the Government ultimately decides the fate of the project based on science and engineering, the Dakota Access Pipeline will become operational bringing a safer means of transportation to a much needed supply of oil to communities across the country. So we will continue to obey the rules and trust the process.”

Read full Kelcy Warren memo here

by Wakíƞyaƞ Waánataƞ (Matt Remle- Lakota)

Matt Remle (Lakota) is an editor and writer for Last Real Indians and LRInspire. Follow @wakiyan7