NoDPL victory that was missed

SUBHEAD: History rarely teaches us about when Natives win against the state. And that's how injustice flourishes. 

By Desiree Kane on 4 November 2016 for Truth Out -
(http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38255-the-standing-rock-victory-you-didn-t-hear-about)


Image above: A single elder, a veteran, repeatedly walked out during an October 27 demonstration at Standing Rock and yelled: "Let's talk! Please!" From original article. Photo by Desiree Kane.

Last week, the world watched in horror as a massive militarized police force attacked prayerful Indigenous Water Protectors fighting for the water of 18 million people.

Over and over, people were brutalized, pulled out of sweat lodges while in ceremony wearing only their underwear. Medics and journalists were arrested alongside Water Protectors. Cars were searched and impounded, personal possessions were taken by police.

Everyone by now has seen the videos of the assault last Thursday. Here at Standing Rock, the age-old story of government forces raising arms against Native people is being repeated in real time through social media.

But lost in that day, in the horrific stories of degradation, is a small story of victory, of how 40 to 50 Native people stood against more than 250 police on a bridge on County Road 134 in rural North Dakota.

Word-of-mouth announcements went out to the Oceti Sakowin camp that there was going to be a police raid of the front-line camp that had been set up in the way of the pipeline. A raid means people are in imminent danger, and that is widely understood here.

Over Labor Day, campers were attacked by dogs and pepper sprayed by Dakota Access security. And since then, we've seen increased militarization. It has been apparent that the government, specifically Morton County Sheriff's office, is the security force protecting the pipeline, so no one doubted that this time the police would be the ones to desecrate bodies and lifeways.

My original plan was to take County Road 134 to photograph the pipeline being forced into the earth.
Instead, I found a blockade of wood logs and hay bales set up in an area where water divided the back country road.

No one there was armed with anything other than prayer. It was a strategic juncture because police vehicles couldn't cross the narrow embankments on their way to the raid.

If they were stopped at this bridge from the east, they could only come from the north.

In the morning, police did come, and from both sides. When I arrived, this blockade had already stopped an LRAD -- a sonic weapon often called "sound cannon," which can cause permanent hearing loss -- from making it to the camp.

Even as police numbers grew, eventually well beyond 200, the Water Protectors held their ground, fearless.

Then the dancing began.

People began dancing to a hand drum, entranced by the power of prayer. A single elder, a veteran, repeatedly walked out and yelled: "Send one unarmed like I am out here to negotiate. Please. We are protecting the water for our children and yours. Send one out here to negotiate. Let's talk! Please!"
He was met with no negotiation.

But the Water Protectors held the bridge. For hours and hours, police advanced and retreated.
This was an unforgettable moment unfolding. With the dancing going on and the veteran trying to negotiate out front, a young woman stepped up and began moving her body to the beat of the drum.

She was power incarnate. Her arms were wide open, her pink fingernail polish glistening. She was crying. Just waiting to be pepper sprayed, she wore a painter's mask, one which would have done nothing much for protection.

That standoff's foundation was ceremony and song, the truest essence of religious freedom.

This is what colonial violence looks like: 250 police -- some of them snipers, some with guns drawn on the crowd -- in a standoff with 40 to 50 unarmed Indigenous people who just want to be allowed to live.

The untold story of this day was that those troops never made it from the east to join the others in raiding the camp, dehumanizing the friends and families of those on that bridge. There were 250 fewer officers able to show up to brutalize people and pervert prayer ceremonies on October 27.

History rarely teaches us about when Natives win against the state. And that's how injustice flourishes: in the shadows.

So let me be clear. On October 27, when a colonial force armed with military weapons faced off on a bridge against veterans armed with only prayer, the Natives won.

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: DAPL hid discovery of Sioux artifacts 11/5/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Dakota Access Pipeline will leak 11/5/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Route of the Dakota Access Pipeline 11/4/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Sanders calls for stopping DAPL 11/4/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Obama hints at DAPL rerouting 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: New military attack on NODAPL 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: How to Support NoDAPL 11/3/16
Unicorn Riot Tweets NoDAPL 11/2/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Standing Rock & the Ballot Box 10/31/16
Ea O Ka Aina: NoDAPL reclaim new frontline 10/24/16
Ea O Ka Aina: How far will North Dakota go? 10/23/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Amy Goodman "riot" charge dropped 10/17/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Amy Goodwin to face "Riot Charge" 10/16/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Shutdown of all tar sand pipelines 10/11/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Why Standing Rock is test for Oabama 10/8/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Why we are Singing for Water 10/8/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Labor's Dakota Access Pipeline Crisis 10/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Standing Firm for Standing Rock 10/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Contact bankers behind DAPL 9/29/16
Ea O Ka Aina: NoDAPL demo at Enbridge Inc 9/29/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Militarized Police raid NoDAPL 9/28/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Stop funding of Dakota Access Pipeline 9/27/16
Ea O Ka Aina: UN experts to US, "Stop DAPL Now!" 9/27/16
Ea O Ka Aina: No DAPL solidarity grows 9/21/16
Ea O Ka Aina: This is how we should be living 9/16/16
Ea O Ka Aina: 'Natural Capital' replacing 'Nature' 9/14/16
Ea O Ka Aina: The Big Difference at Standing Rock 9/13/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Jill Stein joins Standing Rock Sioux 9/10/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Pipeline temporarily halted 9/6/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Native Americans attacked with dogs 9/5/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Mni Wiconi! Water is Life! 9/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Sioux can stop the Pipeline 8/28/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Officials cut water to Sioux 8/23/16    

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DAPL hid discovery of Sioux artifacts

SUBHEAD: Dakota Access Pipeline company under scrutiny over sacred artifacts in oil pipeline's path.

By Steve Levin on 4 November 2016 for the Guardian -
(https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/05/dakota-access-oil-pipeline-native-american-artifacts-discovered?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)


Image above: The Dakota Access pipeline construction site. Local tribes fear it will contaminate drinking water. Photograph byJosh Morgan. From original article.

North Dakota regulators accuse company of failing to disclose the discovery of Native American symbolic stones on a site where construction was planne.

North Dakota regulators are filing a complaint against the oil company building the Dakota Access pipeline for failing to disclose the discovery of Native American artifacts in the path of construction.

The allegations mark the state’s first formal action against the corporation and add fuel to the claims of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has long argued that the $3.7bn pipeline threatens sacred lands and indigenous cultural heritage.

Julie Fedorchak, chair of the North Dakota public service commission, told the Guardian that on 17 October, pipeline officials found a group of stone cairns –symbolic rock piles that sometimes mark burial grounds – on a site where construction was planned.


Image above: The stone cairns, which can sometimes mark burial grounds. Photograph by North Dakota public service commission. From original article.

The firm, however, failed to notify the commission, in violation of its permit, and only disclosed the findings 10 days later when government workers inquired about it, she said.

“I was very disappointed,” said Fedorchak. “We found out from our inspectors. Who knows when we would’ve found out?
”
The rebuke is significant given that public officials in North Dakota have repeatedly criticized Native American leaders protesting against the pipeline and have gone to great lengths to protect the construction sites from demonstrations.

The commission will file a complaint this week and the company could face a maximum fine of $10,000 per day for the 10 days without a disclosure, according to Fedorchak.

Native American protesters, who call themselves “water protectors”, said a reprimand from regulators was too little too late and lamented that the state had consistently failed to work with the tribe to prevent the destruction of sacred burial grounds and historic artifacts.

“They are digging up our sites. They are not following the law,” said LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a Standing Rock Sioux tribe member and founder of the Sacred Stone camp, which activists formed in the spring to fight the pipeline.

Over the last week, construction of the 1,172-mile pipeline – which would carry 470,000 barrels a day from North Dakota to Illinois – has gotten very close to the Missouri river where the tribe fears it would contaminate the regional drinking water.

Indigenous activists, who have faced Mace, rubber bullets, mass arrests and questionable jail conditions, say the project has already bulldozed sacred grounds.

Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the pipeline, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday, but a lawyer for the firm claimed in a letter to the commission that the construction crew rerouted around the cairn artifacts and filed a report with the state historic preservation office.

The attorney further claimed that the failure to disclose the findings to the commission was due to the fact that the company was busy coordinating a site visit for public officials.

“What we’re concerned about is transparency,” said Fedorchak.

President Obama recently said the US government was exploring ways to reroute the pipeline, but said he would “let it play out for several more weeks”. Indigenous leaders have urged him to permanently save the native lands and surrounding areas from further destruction.

Cheryl Angel, a Sicangu Lakota tribe member who helped organize the first Standing Rock camp, said she has personally seen what appear to be indigenous artifacts in the line of construction and that she believes the pipeline operators have intentionally hidden discoveries of sacred sites and knowingly destroyed them.

“It’s a tremendous blow to our history. They are trying to erase our existence,” said Angel, 56. “That’s a blatant disregard for our culture. That hurts when someone purposefully tries to erase you as people from … the land we’ve occupied for centuries.”

Allard said she suspected the state might be taking action against the company simply because there is now international attention on the conflict.

“They have no choice now, because the world is watching.”

Given the extent to which the government has allowed the pipeline to rapidly progress, Angel said she did not believe regulators wanted to help preserve artifacts.

“It’s almost as if they are working hand in hand with the oil company to go ahead and let them start drilling.”

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Dakota Access Pipeline will leak 11/5/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Route of the Dakota Access Pipeline 11/4/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Sanders calls for stopping DAPL 11/4/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Obama hints at DAPL rerouting 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: New military attack on NODAPL 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: How to Support NoDAPL 11/3/16
Unicorn Riot Tweets NoDAPL 11/2/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Standing Rock & the Ballot Box 10/31/16
Ea O Ka Aina: NoDAPL reclaim new frontline 10/24/16
Ea O Ka Aina: How far will North Dakota go? 10/23/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Amy Goodman "riot" charge dropped 10/17/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Amy Goodwin to face "Riot Charge" 10/16/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Shutdown of all tar sand pipelines 10/11/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Why Standing Rock is test for Oabama 10/8/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Why we are Singing for Water 10/8/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Labor's Dakota Access Pipeline Crisis 10/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Standing Firm for Standing Rock 10/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Contact bankers behind DAPL 9/29/16
Ea O Ka Aina: NoDAPL demo at Enbridge Inc 9/29/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Militarized Police raid NoDAPL 9/28/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Stop funding of Dakota Access Pipeline 9/27/16
Ea O Ka Aina: UN experts to US, "Stop DAPL Now!" 9/27/16
Ea O Ka Aina: No DAPL solidarity grows 9/21/16
Ea O Ka Aina: This is how we should be living 9/16/16
Ea O Ka Aina: 'Natural Capital' replacing 'Nature' 9/14/16
Ea O Ka Aina: The Big Difference at Standing Rock 9/13/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Jill Stein joins Standing Rock Sioux 9/10/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Pipeline temporarily halted 9/6/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Native Americans attacked with dogs 9/5/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Mni Wiconi! Water is Life! 9/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Sioux can stop the Pipeline 8/28/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Officials cut water to Sioux 8/23/16   
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Dakota Access Pipeline will leak

SUBHEAD: Expert finds government downplayed Dakota Access Pipeline impact on tribe and water.

By Lauren McCauley on 4 November 2016 for Common Ground -
(http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/11/04/pipelines-leak-expert-finds-government-downplayed-dapl-impact-tribe-and-water)


Image above: The Dakota Access Pipeline being installed between farms, as seen from 50th Avenue in New Salem, North Dakota.  Photo by Tony Webstervia Earthjustice. From original article.

An independent pipeline expert has concluded that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' environmental assessment (EA) of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is insufficient and fails to account for the impact on tribal members, prompting the Standing Rock Sioux to demand that the federal agency "revisit" its approval of the controversial project.

The review, commissioned by the tribe, found that the Army Corps' EA "understates the risk of pipeline failure and related oil release from this pipeline impacting Lake Oahe and the Missouri River," determined (pdf) Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline engineer with the consulting firm Accufacts, Inc..

Earthjustice, which is representing the Standing Rock Sioux in its litigation against the Corps, outlined additional "areas of deficiency" identified in the review:

1. Shoddy pipeline construction
2. The risks posed by landslides were underestimated
3. Lack of proper safety constructions to contain spills
4. Failure to review impact to residents and environment downstream of the site
5. A risk review of industry spills and containment at similar sites that document problematic regulatory oversight of the industry in North Dakota

In a letter (pdf) sent late last week to Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault II presents Kuprewicz's findings in contrast to the EA's determination that building a pipeline across Lake Oahe "will not affect members of the  Standing Rock Sioux Tribe or the Tribal reservation."

The review, he said, "underscores one of the fundamental deficiencies of the Final Environmental Assessment—it assumes, without foundation, that placing a massive oil pipeline just upstream from the Reservation presents no risk to the Tribe.

Alternately, "Mr. Kuprewicz's findings reflect the common sense point that was somehow lost in the Final Environmental Analysis—that pipelines leak, and that when they do so there are often devastating consequences, particularly when the leak contaminates water," he noted.

"This raises the question," Archambault continued, "if the Dakota Access pipeline is so safe that it presents no risk at all when situated on the Tribe's doorstep, why isn't the pipeline safe enough to cross the river north of Bismarck, as originally proposed? The Final EA provides no answer."

Earthjustice staff attorney Jan Hasselman, who represents the Tribe, said, "The law requires a full and transparent analysis of risks like oil spills prior to issuance of a federal permit. It's clear that never happened here."

Indeed, as recent news events have shown, and as Archambault himself pointed out in the letter, "the public record is filled with examples" of pipeline failure. The past two weeks alone have seen a deadly gasoline pipeline explosion in Alabama, and successive pipeline leaks in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, respectively discharging crude oil and gasoline.

According to data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an average of over 59 oil spills occur each year while the average amount of oil spilled from pipelines topping 47,000 barrels. North Dakota alone had 1238 reported incidents of spills of oil or oilfield wastewater in the 12-month period from July 27, 2015 through July 25, 2016.

Referencing these "sobering" statistics, as well as many of the documented instances, Archambault concluded that the Army Corps should deny the easement for the Lake Oahe pipeline crossing.

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Route of the Dakota Access Pipeline 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Sanders calls for stopping DAPL 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Obama hints at DAPL rerouting 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: New military attack on NODAPL 11/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: How to Support NoDAPL 11/3/16
Unicorn Riot Tweets NoDAPL 11/2/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Standing Rock & the Ballot Box 10/31/16
Ea O Ka Aina: NoDAPL reclaim new frontline 10/24/16
Ea O Ka Aina: How far will North Dakota go? 10/23/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Amy Goodman "riot" charge dropped 10/17/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Amy Goodwin to face "Riot Charge" 10/16/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Shutdown of all tar sand pipelines 10/11/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Why Standing Rock is test for Oabama 10/8/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Why we are Singing for Water 10/8/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Labor's Dakota Access Pipeline Crisis 10/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Standing Firm for Standing Rock 10/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Contact bankers behind DAPL 9/29/16
Ea O Ka Aina: NoDAPL demo at Enbridge Inc 9/29/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Militarized Police raid NoDAPL 9/28/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Stop funding of Dakota Access Pipeline 9/27/16
Ea O Ka Aina: UN experts to US, "Stop DAPL Now!" 9/27/16
Ea O Ka Aina: No DAPL solidarity grows 9/21/16
Ea O Ka Aina: This is how we should be living 9/16/16
Ea O Ka Aina: 'Natural Capital' replacing 'Nature' 9/14/16
Ea O Ka Aina: The Big Difference at Standing Rock 9/13/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Jill Stein joins Standing Rock Sioux 9/10/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Pipeline temporarily halted 9/6/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Native Americans attacked with dogs 9/5/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Mni Wiconi! Water is Life! 9/3/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Sioux can stop the Pipeline 8/28/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Officials cut water to Sioux 8/23/16   

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