The Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit that would allow drilling under the Missouri River, for the Dakota Access pipeline. This is after weeks of protesting by natives and clergy and veterans and others. You can read more here.
UPDATE: Welp, it’s not as clear-cut as all that.
1. The businesses involved in this enterprise said the announcement is just more of the same, that it’s a stall tactic until the new administration takes over and
2. The incoming administration intends to privatize the whole thing, anyway. Jaysus.
So leaves the score at:
White businessmen: 90 billion
Native people: 1.
But as someone said on Twitter: It’s a start.
Dating Jesus 
I hope the Indians aren’t being fooled by this. Kinda business as usual for White folk.
Denial of the DAPL easement is not final. The Army Corps of Engineers will…again…consider alternative routes “through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis.”
Translated that means, “It might be best to wait for the White Nationalist government to be fully installed in Washington before progressing on the project.” The DAPL is worth $3.8 billion dollars, and our President-elect is heavily vested in both Energy Transfer Partners and Phillips 66.
And I think we need to remember it’s not the Army lining up with riot gear, barbed wire, water cannons and rubber bullets to face down protesters. It’s law enforcement brought in from 24 counties and 16 cities in 10 different states because North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple declared an EMAC state of emergency at Standing Rock due to the protests. So until Dalrymple sends his troops home, and until the DAPL project decides to go with the original Bismarck route, or something else, nothing has actually been accomplished but the promulgation of more empty rhetoric and empty promises.
You’re right. It’s premature to call it a victory and as I was reading news reports this weekend, I thought, “What’s next?”
What I would like to learn “through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis” is why the DAPL is unsafe around White folks’ drinking water in Bismarck but safe for Reservation drinking water.
Not that I’m getting my hopes up.
I think What’s Next will involve a wait-and-see on the part of the protesters who choose to remain on site and a wait-them-out on the part of the DAPL.
Looking at history, when the government and business interests both decide a policy, plan or practice will “benefit all Americans”, the best interests, wishes and desires, of the only Real Americans in the mix…as well as the stated duty of the government to protect the best interests, wishes and desires, of the only Real Americans in the mix…rarely, if ever, become a serious consideration.
And considering the fact Trump “intends to cut the bureaucratic red tape put in place by the Obama administration that has prevented our country from diversifying our energy portfolio…[putting] forth serious policy proposals he plans to set in motion on Day One” I think we can only reasonably expect every effort be made to complete the DAPL, as part of that set of proposals, as quickly as possible. Safety be damned. Especially if it’s Indian safety. Business as usual: Profits First!
And that’s critical. What I want to know is how Caucasian physiology won’t allow living near (and consuming) contaminated water, and Native physiology allows it.
Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners Respond to the Statement from the Department of the Army.
As it states clearly…and correctly…in that statement, there is nothing in the Army’s press release about “rejection” or “denial” of current DAPL routing plans. The Army’s statement merely delays action on the project for purely political reasons. (The DAPL has a reasonable cause of action to compel the Army to allow the project to continue. if DAPL chooses to take that route. As it states in the press release, two Federal court have already upheld the routing plans.)
Obama wants Trump’s name on the deal…because…Obama doesn’t think Indians…or anybody else…are smart enough to know which President allowed this project to progress to a point of no return. And he’s just a weeks away from no longer needing the good graces of the business sector.
Sucks to be you. The Obama Legacy.
Goddammit.
Trump advisors aim to privatize oil-rich Indian reservations: Reuters.
I saw that last night. I need to update the damn blog post. We were talking last night about what would be the best thing to do about this. Go out? Send money? Write every congressperson we know?
Going out, of course, in the middle of a North Dakota winter, demands a level of commitment that needs to be closely considered. Keeping in touch with the activists and planning to go out and support particular actions might be better, for some folks, than just packing up and moving into the camp.
Going out also takes a level of financial commitment that might better be focused on direct support to the activists already on site, and their legal defense fund. See here and here.
Another way to support the activists is by encouraging media reports to be more accurate in their reporting. I’ve already mentioned that reports of “victory” or “rejection” or “denial” are more than simply not accurate, they border on disinformation. (Only now are we seeing some, rather begrudging, admissions that the Army’s stated position is a delay only.) Also, the reportage in most of the coverage is suffused with implications that the DAPL threat is to Reservation lands only. This is exactly what the government and the DAPL project wants folks to believe. It’s an Indian problem. The truth is the DAPL threatens the water of about 18 million people, most of them White folk, who rely on the Missouri River for sustenance in various forms, and likewise threatens critical wildlife habitats all along the Missouri River system south of Standing Rock. So it’s much more than just an Indian problem. It’s a public health issue. An economic issue. An environmental issue. It’s everybody’s problem.
Contacting government officials or your representatives in Congress is always a good idea, but should be tempered by the fact 99% of those people don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. Resource extraction is Big Money. Bigger than guns. Bigger than Trump. Don’t get your hopes up for anything more than a preponderance of horseshit. The truth is, the only things that can stop DAPL at this point is the government and the courts.
So…I think probably the best forms of support right now are money, and media, (which will require some work).
I’ve got some money and I am the media. Excellent!
Looks like DAPL is going to court sooner rather than later.