Judge to hear arguments in Sacagawea pipeline case

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s oil-rich Three Affiliated Tribes say a Texas company didn’t get tribal permission to put an oil pipeline and a natural gas pipeline beneath Lake Sakakawea.

The tribes ordered the project halted last month, saying they had no assurances from the company that water supplies would not be harmed.

Sacagawea Pipeline developer Paradigm Energy Partners says it has federal permission to run the pipelines beneath the lake that’s the largest of the six reservoirs on the Missouri River.

A hearing on the issue is slated Thursday in federal court in Bismarck. Paradigm wants Judge Daniel Hovland to continue an injunction against the tribe so construction can proceed.

North Dakota’s Public Service Commission approved construction of the $125 million, 70-mile-long oil pipeline project in January and it’s nearly complete.