The Obama administration has finally listened to the people and has halted the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This decision came shortly after, 2,000 veterans descended to North Dakota to aid the water protectors against the militarized police force that have been abusing them.
For months Native Americans, activist, and environmentalist have been converging to North Dakota to protest the construction of the DAPL. Native Americans and their proponents have said that the pipeline endangers their only source of water and that it will destroy sacred grave sites. They decided to take a stand and protest the pipeline even though it appeared they were fighting a losing battle.
In July, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed a complaint in a Washington federal court stating that “the construction and operation of the pipeline … threatens the Tribe’s environmental and economic well-being, and would damage and destroy sites of great historic, religious, and cultural significance to the Tribe.”
Federal law requires that the pipeline acquire an environmental impact statement from the government, which they have failed to do. In a statement, Dave Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said that “We have laws that require federal agencies to consider environmental risks and protection of Indian historic and sacred sites.”
For the last several months the tribe’s formal requests have been ignored and their peaceful protesters have been met with a militarized police force. Both local and out of state police have been abusing protesters and violating their rights at the behest of the oil company.
Independent media has been detrimental in getting the truth out about the DAPL. Because of social and independent media, the public was able to witness the abuse with their own eyes. They were able to see history repeating itself in the most unsightly way.
Amy Goodman, who is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now was charged with rioting for simply doing her job and covering the protest; while mainstream corporate media essentially refused to cover the protest or send reporters.
Some of the earliest footage the public saw was of private contractor and security using German Shepherds on protesters. As the standoff evolved throughout the weeks and months, footage revealed grotesque abuses perpetrated by the police day and night.
Police have shot protesters in the face with rubber bullets, used water cannons in freezing temperatures, sprayed gallons of mace, cracked heads with batons, strip searched people charged with misdemeanors to humiliate them and the list goes on.
The most obvious question is, what’s next? The Huffington Post says that within hours of the news, Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for America’s oil and natural gas industry, called for Trump to “reject the Obama administration’s shameful actions to deny this vital energy project, restore the rule of law in the regulatory process, and make this project’s approval a top priority as he takes office in January.”
The rule of law has already been established in this case.Federal law dictates that there must be an environmental impact statement just like the water protectors have been saying from the beginning. They were breaking the law, not the peaceful protesters.
Trumps Spokesperson, Jason Miller, said that “with regard to the Dakota Access Pipeline, that’s something that we support construction of and we’ll review the full situation when we’re in the White House to make appropriate determination at that time.”
According to reports and Wikipedia, Trump is invested in stocks that are directly connected to the pipeline. This may prove to be a conflict of interest for the Trump administration and while the water protectors have scored a victory it is still not over.
