Rep. Cramer: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Pipeline Protest Was ‘Co-Opted’

Three tribes participated; Standing Rock did not.

Almost all of the 1,172-mile, $3.8 billion pipeline has been built by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners except for a mile-long section across federal land and beneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir.

The Army Corps’ decision to not approve a key easement for the 1,170-mile long pipeline was a victory for the thousands gathered to protest against its completion, but it was by no means a knockout punch.

But many protesters are still at the camp. “An element within the protest movement wants to exploit veterans with PTSD, arm them, try to trigger their PTSD and turn them aggressive”, he said.

“Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, said after talking with tribal officials and hearing their concerns that the pipeline could affect the drinking water, it became ‘clear that there’s more work to do'”.

“The presence of the veterans in Standing Rock is a powerful statement to our leaders and the corporations that run us”, Rhame said. But Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren told The Associated Press that that the pipeline won’t be rerouted and the company has no alternative than to stick to its plan.

“I am going because my veteran brothers and sisters called out and asked for the veterans to come and help support the native Indians for their land”, Arthur Woodson, who served in the Army for seven years, explained before leaving for North Dakota.

The permit would be for the final section of the pipeline, which spans four states. Debatable. It would be illegal for Energy Transfer Partners to drill under the Missouri, but that’s not to say they won’t do it and opt to pay whatever legal penalties they incur. “It’s a demonstration that we are on the verge of winning this fight”.

“We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration”, Dave Archambault II, tribal chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said in a statement on Sunday. “We won, and we have to continue moving forward and trying to work with…the Trump administration and to make this decision stick”, he responded.

Thorpe and fellow pipeline opponents couldn’t find a hotel room and “thought we were going to be sleeping in our auto at Wal-Mart”, she said. “We’re planning on some folks refusing to leave and getting arrested in the process…that level of self-sacrifice is worth it to shut this down”, Reznicek said. This implies that sponsors of the controversial Dakota Pipeline would have to halt operations along the 40-mile stretch in North Dakota. The first was April 2016.

The Army’s decision be useful in a court challenge, according to Jan Hasselman, an Earthjustice staff attorney representing the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

6,000 total water protectors on average occupying camps. Weekend numbers are higher.

The Oceti Sakowin camp is the overflow from smaller private and permitted protest sites nearby. Yet, supporters of the project have remained steadfast that the pipeline will be built and no rerouting will be taking place. The pipeline has a total cost of almost $4 billion. The dollars are expected to provide for law enforcement costs from local departments from across the state and from out-of-state through the end of the year. For some not accustomed to often-harsh North Dakota winters, the weather was eye-opening. The companies received permission from the Corps to cross the lake in July, but they need a second form of permission – the easement from the Army under the Mineral Leasing Act.

Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn wrote this article for YES!