05.30.11

Hoeven, Dalrymple Request Army Corps of Engineers Response Team For Standing Rock Reservation

          BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven and Governor Jack Dalrymple today urged the Army Corps of Engineers to deploy a response team and deploy assistance to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to address rising Missouri River waters as a consequence of increased flows from the main stem dams. Both Senator Hoeven and Governor Dalrymple spoke with tribal Chairman Charley Murphy today.

The Senator and Governor have contacted Col. Robert Ruch, commander of the Corps’ Omaha district, to support Tribal Chairman Charles Murphy’s request for technical and direct assistance as well as advanced measures to protect tribal safety and property. Col. Ruch and Chairman Murphy this afternoon notified Senator Hoeven’s office that a Corps team was en route to the reservation to work directly with the tribal government.

          “The Standing Rock Reservation, like communities down the Missouri River, are confronting significant challenges owing to increased flows from the main stem dams,” the Senator and Governor said in a joint statement. “We urge and appreciate the Corps’ efforts to respond in as timely and effective a manner as possible.”

          While the tribe is taking necessary mitigation measures, preparedness actions and other steps to protect the reservation, it has asked the Corps to support the measures with technical and material assistance. In particular, it has asked for help in protecting the causeway to Fort Yates, the reservation’s only access to the Standing Rock Sioux’s Administrative Service Center, Tribal Court, Standing Rock Health Service’s Fort Yates Hospital, and other critical services. Residences, water treatment and intake facilities, electrical facilities and other infrastructure are also at risk.