old legal mumbo-jumbo won't convince them of anything. there are people willing to take a bullet to stop it. So even if they subdue the demonstrations, which i am not even sure how they are doing it since it is on tribal land where peaceful assembly is legal, it will be monkey-wrenched in the finest Edward Abbey tradition, i will say with a pretty high likelihood of being right. For a young warrior to count coup on a project that the elders want to fight is an honor in their culture.
And one can almost count on the BIA to do something stupid.