The United States has a long and inglorious history of making and then reneging on treaties it enters into with Native Americans. This kind of crude and callous disregard for the rights of the Native Americans usually means big money is at stake for some wealthy businessman with significant political connections.
Since this summer, thousands of indigenous people and their allies opposed to the $3.78 billion, 1,172-mile-long Dakota Access pipeline have journeyed to the borderland of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, staking teepees and tents along the confluence of the Cannon Ball and Missouri Rivers. The property, managed by the Corps, is ancestral Treaty land of the Great Sioux Nation.
More than 2,000 veterans agreed to act as “human shields” to protect protesters from December 4 to 7, according to a Facebook event called Veterans Stand for Standing Rock.
The same day the group announced its initiative, state officials threatened to impose fines and block supplies from reaching a nearby camp where protesters reside. Officials backed away when the veterans joined the protest.
Protesters say they won’t be moved. Community members are concerned that the $3.78 billion pipeline, which would carry at least about 470,000 barrels of oil across four states daily, would pollute a major water source and destroy ancestral burial and sacred prayer sites (The Guardian reports that construction workers have already destroyed some of these cultural sites). Protester Amos Cook told the outlet that they’re “not planning on going nowhere until we accomplish what we came here to do.”
The veterans will protest through the December 5 deadline the Army Corps placed on the Sioux tribe to vacate. On their Facebook event page, the group says its aim is to “support our country” and “stop this savage injustice being committed right here at home.” Though their protest will be nonviolent, they urge participants to bring body armor, gas masks, earplugs and shooting mufflers since protesters have been injured by police force. No drugs, alcohol or weapons will be allowed.
Veterans Stand for Standing Rock also launched a GoFundMe in early November to raise money to provide food, transportation and supplies for protesters.
Morton County Sheriff’s deputies have sprayed rubber bullets, mace and water on more than 400 people demonstrating at a bridge blockade not far from the camps. Temperatures were below freezing when protectors were repeatedly hosed down by police that Sunday night, November 20. There have also been reports that concussion grenades were fired at protectors. Dozens were hospitalized, including 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky, who may face the amputation of her arm, and Cheree Lynn Soloman, who is fundraising for eye surgery.
Veterans Stand for Standing Rock also launched a GoFundMe in early November to raise money to provide food, transportation and supplies for protesters.
Morton County Sheriff’s deputies have sprayed rubber bullets, mace and water on more than 400 people demonstrating at a bridge blockade not far from the camps. Temperatures were below freezing when protectors were repeatedly hosed down by police that Sunday night, November 20. There have also been reports that concussion grenades were fired at protectors. Dozens were hospitalized, including 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky, who may face the amputation of her arm, and Cheree Lynn Soloman, who is fundraising for eye surgery.
A website called StandingRockFactChecker.com says the protest supporters, including the vets, have it wrong. The “fact checkers” say:
1.The Dakota Access Pipeline traverses a path on private property and does not cross into the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. 100% of landowners in North Dakota voluntarily signed easements to allow for construction of the pipeline on their property. Nearly the entire route of the 1,172 mile pipeline has been sited and approved by relevant state and federal agencies and more than 22% of the pipeline has already been completed. To the extent possible, the Dakota Access Pipeline was routed to parallel existing infrastructure, such as the Northern Border Pipeline, to avoid environmentally sensitive areas and areas of potential cultural significance.
2. Pipelines are – by far – the safest way to transport energy liquids and gases. Already, 8 pipelines cross the Missouri River carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of energy products every day. That includes the Northern Border natural gas pipeline – built in 1982 – that parallels the planned crossing for Dakota Access for 40 miles as well as high voltage transmission power lines. Once completed, the Dakota Access Pipeline will be among the safest, most technologically advanced pipelines in the world. In addition, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s water intake is scheduled to be moved by the end by of the year. The Missouri River intake serving the Tribe is being switched to Mobridge, South Dakota, nearly 50 miles south of the current water intake and about 70 miles south of the planned Dakota Access river crossing.
3. That 389 meetings took place between the U.S. Army Corps and 55 tribes about the Dakota Access project. In addition the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe met individually with the U.S. Army Corps nearly a dozen times to discuss archaeological and other surveys conducted to finalize the Dakota Access route.
Based on input from a number of sources, the pipeline route was adjusted in September 2014, to shorten the pipeline by 11 miles, avoid buildings and other structures, and cross fewer waterways and roads.
Based on input from a number of sources, the pipeline route was adjusted in September 2014, to shorten the pipeline by 11 miles, avoid buildings and other structures, and cross fewer waterways and roads.
4. Safeguarding and ensuring the longevity of culturally significant artifacts and sites is of interest to all Americans. That’s why the Dakota Access Pipeline traverses a path on private property. And the Dakota Access Pipeline was routed to parallel existing infrastructure, such as the Northern Border Pipeline and high voltage transmission power lines. Therefore the Dakota Access route has already been under construction twice before. Designing the route to parallel existing infrastructure mitigates any additional impacts to the environment and avoids areas of potential cultural significance.
5. Unfortunately, the emotionally charged atmosphere has led to several outbreaks of violence which has endangered the safety of the workers and the protesters themselves. Protesters have rushed police lines, threatened and assaulted private security officers, and thrown rocks and bottles at workers. And let’s remember, the work that is being done is in full accordance with all state and federal regulations and on private property – not on reservation land.
Despite the site’s claim to “fact checker” status, we checked with Wikipedia and searched on List of pipeline accidents. We found nearly 500 pipe leaks. While a number were gas pipe leaks, a number were in fact oil leaks, suggesting that at some point in time all pressurized pipes will leak.
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