Just as promised, veterans started arriving at the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protest camps in the final days leading up to the government’s Monday, Dec. 5, eviction deadline for the self-described “water protectors.” The vets joined those already protesting the 1,172-mile-long, $3.78 billion project on the front lines. The eviction threat was aimed at protesters in the main Oceti Sakowin Camp — located on property whose ownership is claimed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The protesters’ response to the government’s threat was simple; they were staying put. The thousands of people living in the camp include representatives of more than 300 different tribes of indigenous peoples, many non-native supporters opposed to the continued use of hydrocarbons, and now, the aforementioned veterans.
While the Native Americans in the camp are concerned with the environmental implications of the pipeline and its impact on their drinking water supply, their cause goes further. They will not leave the Oceti Sakowin Camp because they do not believe they are trespassing on federal lands. They believe that the pipeline builders and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers have trespassed onto lands never “legally” removed from the Sioux Nation’s governance. They claim, and the courts have agreed, that the land in question was placed under their control by way of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
And so it is that when the indigenous people in the Oceti Sakowin Camp are told they have to leave, it rings hollow in their ears.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the eviction; the protesters won… at least for now.
On Sunday, Dec. 4 — facing brutal winter weather, a determined assortment of U.S. veterans, entrenched indigenous tribes (some with a legitimate legal claim to the land) and thousands of environmental activists who have made DAPL the line in the sand for a global movement — the Obama administration blinked.
The Army Corps of Engineers announced that a full-blown environmental impact study must be conducted before the pipeline will be permitted to cross its claimed property and drill under Lake Oahe.
The federal government also announced that an attempt to possibly reroute the pipeline was also in the works.
It would be wrong to call these results anything short of a victory for the tribes and their environmental activist supporters.
But the battle for Standing Rock is far from over.
Many observers — including most folks in the protest camps who say they won’t be leaving despite the government’s announcement and winter storms dumping snow by the foot along with 50 mph winds and a minus-25-degree windchill — believe this “victory” is little more than a 45-day “timeout” designed to protect Obama’s legacy, not the protesters or their causes.
On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump takes office and he will have the power to reverse the Corps’ recent decision in its entirety.
Trump, should he choose to do so, can declare that the full environmental impact study — that could take years to complete — is unnecessary and that the original route under Lake Oahe is acceptable. It’s that simple.
Trump is a shareholder in Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and Phillips 66, two of the company’s responsible for building the DAPL — at least he was the last time he had to report his holdings. And Kelcy Warren, the CEO of ETP was responsible for six-figure contributions to Trump’s presidential campaign. Then there is the fact that Trump has publicly promised to free the oil and gas industry from much of what the president-elect describes as burdensome environmental regulation in order to create a massive boom in oil and gas drilling. Trump has also touted infrastructure projects as being one of his top priorities.
It would seem the “water protectors” are prudent to stay right where they are.
After all, that is what the pipeline company is doing. Warren has repeatedly said the Corps’ announcement to stop his pipeline’s construction is simply a short-termed politically motivated act and that he fully expects DAPL to not only be completed in short order, but also in the exact same location as currently planned.
He obviously thinks he knows something.
But so do the protesters who have hunkered down for the long winter and the fight ahead.
What’s that you say? ?? TheUSACE delay-decision was represented as an
Environmental Impact-concern — now you are admitting it is bald-faced Obama screech! ::: The whole pipeline is complete except for an 1100′ final piece of it.
Pipeline experts said it is extremely rare for a presidential-administration to intervene in a permitting process typically handled by career underling-bureaucrats.
The extraordinarily advanced stage of the project’s construction made theHistoric O Regime’s move even more unusual, & experts say they expect it to be overturned.
“Clearly this is DIRECTLY political from the (Regime), what it sez is that even if you have
all your permits in hand, the leftwinger eco-loon gubmit might change the rules on you once construction is almost complete.”
Obama has begun the last leg of his “Screw You, America” tour.