What the Dakota Access Pipeline Is Really About

After 10,000 people showed up at the camp over Thanksgiving, hundreds of military veterans arrived there this past weekend to show their support. In fact, he’s celebrating.

The Dakota Access pipeline came to represent the history of abuse and expropriation of Native Americans and their lands.

On Sunday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would not issue a permit for the portion of the pipeline proposed to cross below Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River.

Energy Transfer Partners slammed the decision as politically motivated and alleged that President Barack Obama’s administration was determined to delay the matter until he leaves office.

HARI SREENIVASAN: And the alternate route idea doesn’t sit well with the local authorities and the company. While the construction company waits for a friendlier administration to take office, protesters hope to stall the project long enough that its complete is no longer economically feasible.

“There are still some remaining questions”, said Dallas Goldtooth, one of the leaders of the protest camp in the North Dakota plains, where thousands have camped to block the planned route of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

ROTT: Jennifer Martel is with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe which sits just across the frozen Cannonball River to the south of this encampment. “He expressed his support for the pipeline, which has met or exceeded all environmental standards set forth by four states and the Army Corps of Engineers”.

Then, on Monday, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault asked protesters to go home.

LUKE DANIELSON: I don’t think it’s overreach to try to find a way to resolve a situation with this much conflict potential. Veterans have a unique status in our society, especially – most of us are combat veterans. I am not negotiating, I am got backing down. It was all their doing. “But, the struggle continues, and we’re going to continue to battle”.

What was the vibe like in the camp? .

“This, I think, is ending peacefully”, Paul said.

“We want to welcome all those willing to come and help us protect our nation against corporate greed unfettered”, the coalition said in a statement. And in this one it really – honestly it was love.

“Oh it was just – they were slapping each other on the back and having a great time”. “Big business, particularly oil business, and the United States government and their interaction with Indian people, they don’t respect our sovereignty and will sidestep it any chance they can”.

People walk along a snowy hillside at the Oceti Sakowin camp where people have gathered to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, N.D., Monday, Dec. 5, 2016.

But celebrations held a hint of caution, as Miles Allard of the Standing Rock Sioux explained to the Associated Press: “We don’t know what Trump is going to do”. “Unfortunately, it’s not surprising that the president would, again, use executive fiat in an attempt to enhance his legacy among the extreme left”, Craig Stevens, spokesperson for the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now says in a statement.