The desperate fight spearheaded by North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against Big Oil to save water and sacred indigenous lands. Known as the largest gathering of indigenous tribes since “Custer’s Last Stand” 140 years ago, native peoples and activists across the world flock to this Peace Garden State to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Law enforcement marches toward activist’s line, quarter mile from main camp; Sioux tribal chairmans speak out against DAPL and Energy Transfer Partners
By C.S. Hagen CANNON BALL – The battle for Backwater Bridge erupted hours after law enforcement cleared “Treaty Camp,” arresting 142 people and pushing activists back two miles making room for Dakota Access Pipeline construction. Two Dakota Access trucks and one vehicle were set on fire near the bridge; an electronic billboard sat charred between them making the road impassable.
“It was a very active and tense evening as law enforcement worked through the evening to clear protesters from the north camp,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported in a press release.
Front line activists at Backwater Bridge – photo by C.S. Hagen
The conflict lasted all night Thursday and by mid-morning Friday tensions were high, activists reported. They were tired, hungry, frustrated, and feeling trapped as DAPL construction crews hurriedly plowed the earth toward the three-mile easement. Between the activists and the DAPL construction crews, at least 10 Humvees, two bearcats, and hundreds of police formed a roadblock.
Activists preparing for armed police – photos by C.S. Hagen
“You’re on treaty land,” an activist said to the law enforcement line.
“You are not peaceful,” an officer said through a megaphone. “Look behind you at the DAPL truck.”
“You are not peaceful,” activists said back.
The conversation, yelled back and forth, became taunts.
“Why do you hide behind your bandanas?” the officer asked.
“Because of the pepper spray you use on us,” an activist said. “You aren’t tough. You are disobeying natural law.”
Smudging ceremony at the front line – photo by C.S. Hagen
Smudging ceremonies began. Activists moved particleboard shields into a line north of the bridge. Law enforcement used DAPL workers to begin stringing razor wire across their cement barricade, but stopped, citing the situation was becoming dangerous.
“Drop your guns and come here and fight like men,” an activist said.
Law enforcement said they saw weapons; activists said it was an agitator. One white person was seen sitting in the back of a pickup truck holding a broken toy gun with batteries before the vehicle sped south.
“You must move south,” the officer said. “Everyone, you must understand your decision, if you continue to move forward we will be forced to move you back. Does everyone understand that?”
Law enforcement closing in – photo by C.S. Hagen
The activists whooped in response, and moved the line forward three steps. Hundreds of law enforcement took formation and began marching downward toward the bridge. Snipers protruding from Humvee tops pointed weapons at the activists. The officer on the megaphone issued a final warning.
And then, a Standing Rock elder, white hair, dressed in a running suit, pipe in hand, stepped between the activists and the police. His sudden appearance quieted both sides.
Elder Miles Allard of Standing Rock approaches police line to negotiate – photo by C.S. Hagen
“We went to ceremony, the medicine people told us, the spirits told us the only way we can win this thing is through prayer and non-violence,” the elder, Miles Allard, owner of the Camp of the Sacred Stone land, said. “We have to be respectful to these people.”
“They need to be respectful to us,” an activist said.
Miles Allard, 25-year-long resident of Standing Rock – photo by C.S. Hagen
“That’s true,” Allard said. “Listen, one heart, one mind, one spirit, is what they told us. You’re doing your job by standing here, be non-violent please. The spirits told us we will not win if we do this with violence. The violence comes from them; we have to be able to be brave enough and strong enough in prayer to resist that.
“I talk to you because I love you all, I love this water, that’s what we’re here for, the Mni Wiconi. We stand in solidarity. But we cannot create violence, if we do we’re going to lose.”
An eagle flew overhead and the activists cheered. Police beckoned Allard to their line to parley. He negotiated a deal where both sides could back away, personal property from the Treaty Camp returned to activists, and the county could clear the highway. Treaty Camp was built on land tribal council members reclaimed under their own eminent domain declaration, and on private land formerly owned by Cannon Ball Ranch and sold to Dakota Access LLC on September 23, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Backwater Bridge – photos by C.S. Hagen
Although the activists were still effectively trapped at Backwater Bridge as they could not proceed to the DAPL construction pathway two miles north, Allard said the deal did not deter their determination to stop the “black snake.”
Activists shouting back at law enforcement on top of burned out DAPL truck – photo by C.S. Hagen
“It has no effect at all, we’re just opening up the highway, our determination, our drive, our prayers to save our river, our Missouri River,” Allard said. “I told them we will never back down from that because that’s life and death to us. Our water is very important to us, we cannot live, nothing can live, without water, let alone those that are in the water, the animals that go there, the insects, the land if it gets polluted. My major concern was nobody needed to get hurt here.
“I’ve never before stepped up, because I always pray in the background. That’s my job. I was concerned when I heard what was going on… so I came up here to talk to the people and that’s what I did.”
The decision disappointed some within the activist’s crowd, who had spent the night running, defending themselves and other activists. According to some who were present, activists at times counted coup with law enforcement. Counting coup is a winning prestige tradition against an enemy where the most prestigious acts included touching an enemy warrior with the hand and escaping unharmed.
Activists calling for prayer form human chain to prevent others from marching on law enforcement – photo by C.S. Hagen
One DAPL security employee armed with an automatic AR-15 was surrounded by activists and then arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after he attempted to drive into the main camp, Dallas Goldtooth said. Goldtooth is a campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network.
He said he was pepper sprayed on Thursday. Tribal leaders from across the United States were arrested, he said. “They were rounded up and arrested. It was really, really chaotic… Dakota Access is still trying to move ahead with construction.”
Noah Morris, a front line medic, said more than 50 people were treated for pepper spray injuries on Thursday. Twelve people suffered blunt-force injuries from nightsticks and percussion grenades, and another activist had a Taser barb imbedded in his cheek.
Law enforcement also targeted medics on Thursday, Morris said.
Medics waiting at front line – by C.S. Hagen
“They arrested two of our medics, forcibly removed myself and my partner by hitting us from the back of our medical vehicle, and the driver was pulled out while the car was still in drive and arrested. So any reports of restraint on behalf of law enforcement from medics’ perspective were completely false and those folks came as instigators, those folks are the problem, they caused the problem.”
Law enforcement also used “stingballs,” he said, projectiles the size of tennis balls used mostly in prison uprisings, packed with hard rubber pellets. When detonated the projectiles release a “large bang” and send pellets in 360 degrees, hitting and stinging anyone nearby. “They were using their whole arsenal of “less-than-lethal” weapons, Morris said.
One woman fired multiple shots at police officers, and two officers received minor injuries after being hit by logs and debris, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. At least nine vehicles plus construction equipment were torched, sixty activists’ vehicles were impounded, and seven activists used sleeping dragons to attach themselves to DAPL equipment. Most activists arrested were charged with conspiracy to endanger by fire/explosion, engaging in a riot, and maintaining a public nuisance. Those arrested for using sleeping dragons were arrested for reckless endangerment. Since August 10, 411 people have been arrested with charges related to resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Activist woman being arrested – photo provided by Steve Gross
The arrests included one elder was taken while praying in a sweat lodge, Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said. He met with President Obama this week and said he “was a little disappointed” with the results.
“There are no weapons on our side,” Goldtooth said. “The only things we had were our bodies and prayer. At a moment that police were pushing us south, a herd of bison came running over the hills, stampeding, and everyone was ‘wooh,’ letting it out.” Several hundred bison stampeded behind the police line, creating panic, and spurred on by activists on horseback. Police helicopters swooped low, scaring the buffalo away, and the horsemen escaped, Goldtooth said.
The DAPL worker, activists name as Kyle Thompson, just before his arrest – photo provided by Steve Gross
The armed DAPL security employee was in his vehicle driving toward main camp when activists smashed his car off the road and tracked him into a nearby pond within sight of the main camp. The Bureau of Indian Affairs arrived and arrested the DAPL worker. The incident is under investigation by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
“This is just another part of 500 years of colonization and aggression that is predicated upon our oppression,” Goldtooth said. “The question I have to ask… is what’s it going to take for you to take accountability for your law enforcement officers? We’ve seen the lengths they’re willing to go support and back up a multi-billion dollar oil company in the face of peaceful protesters and protectors. We ask for prayers, we ask for thoughts, we ask for guided action from each and every one of you to help us stop this pipeline.”
“We request individuals here to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline to remain at the Seven Councils Fire Camp if they wish to continue lawful and peaceful activities,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said in a press release. “We thank also the Standing Rock tribal members and members of the Seven Council Fires Camp for assisting with de-escalating the situation at the Backwater Bridge.”
The north camp, or the Treaty Camp, was turned over to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
“There were things that were wrong,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said.
“It seems that Energy Transfer Partners is getting protection. We’re standing up for water, and not just for us, we’re standing up for water for everybody. We have the state officials supporting oil protection, we have elected state officials accepting contributions from oil companies. We have police who are militarized… we have unions who are trying to say we’re trying to take jobs away from them.
“Look at Trump who has direct interest in Dakota Access. This is a powerful conglomerate. And what do we have? Who are we? All we have is support, all we have is unity, all we have is our prayers. And it’s strong. We still have a chance. Everyone can still benefit, and everyone can still be happy. It can be done, and everyone will be happy.”
Pipeline route and razor wire off Highway 6 – photo by C.S. Hagen
Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access LLC run by oil tycoon Kelcy Warren, is being sued for illegally using dogs that attacked people, and for buying land [Cannon Ball Ranch] they should not have, Archambault said. Archambault also said that the individual arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs was an infiltrator, sent by Energy Transfer Partners, and that they have proof he was an employee of Energy Transfer Partners. “These agitators are put there for a reason, to make us look like villains… He had an assault rifle, and he fired it. We are not villains. This is the type of company everyone is protecting. What is driving this company is money and greed.”
Frazier added that he will be seeking charges of attempted murder against the infiltrator as there is video of the individual pointing a weapon at activists. Additionally, when asked for information about the individual he was told he would have to follow regular information protocol.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been to Standing Rock, and will assist in negotiation, according to Archambault. “But no matter how much we come together the company continues to construct… and everyone is protecting them. So they want us to sit down and talk while this company continues construction, and that’s difficult.
“This is not about protectors, not about state law enforcement, it’s about this company. It’s a bad company. Nobody should be protecting this company. We all should be focused on what we can do to protect water, and if we don’t do that, life is no more.”
Helicopter pushing stampeding bison away from police line – photo provided by Standing Rock
Activists at Backwater Bridge – photo by C.S. Hagen
Molotov Cocktails, bridge burning, and activists say DAPL security fired weapon into crowd
By C.S. Hagen
CANNONBALL – One footstep at a time, law enforcement pushed activists south of their “line in the sand,” overrunning the “Treaty Camp,” and arresting 117 by early evening.
Approximately 250 activists held firm, singing native songs, burning sweetgrass and tobacco, against heavily armed law enforcement. Some chained themselves to approaching machinery. Others yelled back at an officer on a megaphone, who, according to the Indigenous Environmental Network, was telling activists to “stop fighting amongst themselves” and to “stop shooting arrows even if they were fake.”
Law enforcement entering “Treaty Camp – photo by Margaret Landin
By late afternoon, at least one activist was shot with a Taser in the face, activists reported; others were sprayed with pepper. By nearly 5 p.m., activist and medicine maker Sacheen Seitcham, of the West Coast Women Warrior Media Cooperative, was hit in the chest and in the knee by beanbag rounds fired by law enforcement, she said on her Facebook page. By 6 p.m., Seitcham reported law enforcement started throwing percussion bombs and smoke grenades. Shortly after 6 p.m., Seitcham reported two trucks were on fire, and Governor Jack Dalrymple reported the camp was cleared. Nearing 7 p.m., activist Francine Podenski reported that her 15-year-old nephew who had been shot off his horse was missing.
Nearing 8 p.m., activists started two fires on the Backwater Bridge, and are throwing Molotov Cocktails at law enforcement, the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services reported. Activists reported that a DAPL security employee shot at them with an AR15, the employee’s vehicle was overrun and burned.
“I’m standing here in front of tanks and armed police,” Seitcham said, “and they are advancing on us and trying to run us down. They almost ran an elder over.
“They say they don’t want to hurt us, but we don’t believe them. We’re making our stand for clean water.”
The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services reported one private person was run off the road and shot in the hand, and a woman who was being placed under arrest pulled a .38 caliber revolver and fired three shots, narrowly missing law enforcement officials. A total of ten shots were reported in the area, according to Amy Fong, public information officer for the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.
The camp’s clearing day came one day after Hollywood movie star and activist Mark Ruffalo visited the site.
Militarized police prepare to enter “Treaty Camp” – photo by Sacheen Seitcham West Coast Women Warrior Media Cooperative
“You have a corporation and a state who’s working on behalf of a corporation to hurt our people. They’re militarized,” Ruffalo said to CNN. “This is not an emergency, this is not a national emergency. These are peaceful protesters.”
The company was asked weeks ago to voluntarily stop construction by the federal government and President Obama, and yet it hurries toward the Missouri River. “And Governor Dalrymple of North Dakota, if there’s blood on anyone’s hands, it’s on his hands.
“Let me tell you that people are really getting hurt there. It’s scary,” Ruffalo said.
By midafternoon, Humvees and other armored vehicles had infiltrated “Treaty Camp,” which is land the activists reclaimed on Sunday, October 23 under their own eminent domain actions. The land formerly belonged to the Cannon Ball Ranch, and was sold quietly to Dakota Access Pipeline, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. The purchase was a move some Peace Garden State officials deem questionable. DAPL crews are closing in quickly on the easement along the Missouri River, and although the U.S. Corps of Engineers has yet to give the oil company permission to construct on their lands, Kelcy Warren, Energy Transfer Partner’s CEO, has sworn repeatedly that the pipeline will be built on time.
Activists were resolute in not giving an inch of ground, but they were slowly pushed back. By 6:30 p.m., Dalrymple reported the camp was cleared. Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported activists shot twice at law enforcement.
“To the best of my knowledge we’ve had no serious injuries,” Dalrymple said in a press conference. “The situation has been well handled from start to finish. The really important point is that the sheriff’s office made it very clear that they were being asked to voluntarily go to a different location that is not private property. They had more than ample time yesterday and today to do that. So, those that did not go obviously did not intend to go and we had to deal with that as we have.”
“During the course of moving protesters south, law enforcement officers used a long range acoustic device (LRAD), which transmits a high-pitch tone and is used by law enforcement to disperse crowds,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. “In addition, they they have had to deploy pepper spray due to protesters throwing projectiles at officers and refusing to comply with officer’s orders.”
For the activists, the “line in the sand” was their last stand.
Activist at the frontline – photo by Sacheen Seitcham West Coast Women Warrior Media Cooperative
An officer on the megaphone continuously shouted orders for activists to back up, not to approach officers or they would be arrested or sprayed with pepper. Some activists shouted threats, but were reminded to stay peaceful, stay in prayer. A bonfire was lit before noon, which halted law enforcement’s advance.
“The protesters are not being peaceful or prayerful,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said. “Law enforcement has been very methodical in moving ahead slowly as to not escalate the situation. However, the protesters are using very dangerous means to slow us down. Their aggressive tactics include using horses, fire and trying to flank us with horses and people.”
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier’s threats against the activists are not empty.
“Morton County has entrusted me to uphold the law and that is exactly what I intend to do,” Kirchmeier said. “Yet I am being asked by outsiders and millionaire Hollywood actors to let agitators and rioters walk onto private property, destroy equipment, and endanger lives. And, so-called environmentalists are asking me to turn my head and allow this to happen. We have patrolled the county and enforced the law because our number one priority is public safety, separating the unlawful actors from legal protestors.
Activist chained to steering wheel – photo by Sacheen Seitcham West Coast Women Warrior Media Cooperative
“This is not about the pipeline. This is not about those who wish to legally protest. This is about the rule of law.”
A message from Shailene Woodley, also a Hollywood movie star and an activist who was arrested by Morton County Sheriff’s Department, strip-searched, and plead not guilty this week to misdemeanor charges, called for support of Standing Rock.
“We must hold firm – those at Standing Rock and we around the planet. This is just the beginning. Not an end. They are losing. The peaceful protests are working, the hate and attacks of the police and military are turning more people against them each minute. We need to continue to document and share the stories as each emerges, even as we stand with Standing Rock.”
Police, National Guard march on barricade near Standing Rock’s Treaty Camp; activists hold the line
By C.S. Hagen CANNONBALL – Hundreds of heavily-armed law enforcement officials marched on activists at their “Treaty Camp” Thursday morning.
“Hold the line, be brave,” an activist called out.
A massive fire was set at the activists’ frontline barricade on Highway 1806. Thick black smoke billowed toward approaching police, halting their advance. Two more barricades were setup further south; the third built along a county road number 134 to prevent or slow down a flanking maneuver.
The law enforcement from “numerous city, county, and state agencies” arrived with a Bearcat, bulldozers, armored vehicles, and they called out to the activists, who refused to move. National Guard and Humvees were seen on nearby hilltops.
Activists versus the law near Cannonball at Treaty Camp
“Everyone move down, we will not hurt you,” an officer shouted through a megaphone. Attempts were made to negotiate. “Move south one hundred yards so we can put the fire out. Let’s start from there.”
The activists responded with a resounding no.
“Hold the lines. Hold the lines.”
“They’re going to hurt people,” a female activist said through her tears.
“Don’t be afraid,” another activist consoled.
The sonic gun blasted a second time.
“It hurts,” Dallas Goldtooth said. Goldtooth is a campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network, and posted live feed to his Facebook page. He reported National Guard units were at the site; two Humvees were parked on a nearby western hill.
“They’re using signals to jam our connection,” Goldtooth said. He stood at the frontline barricade. Police to the west protected Dakota Access Workers, who were digging furiously toward the easement three miles away from the Missouri River. So far the easement has been declared off limits by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
North Dakota National Guard near Treaty Camp
Razor wire was strung along Highway 1806, overlooking the pipeline’s pathway, according to live feed videos posted on Facebook.
The activists defending the first barricade were prepared with earplugs, logs, and cars, tires slashed. They formed human barricades behind the bonfire, arms locked, refusing to move.
As of 1 p.m. Thursday, no arrests have been officially reported. Activists report arrests began around 2:30 p.m. Some activists were attempting to outrun DAPL security and police to lock themselves to DAPL machinery, according to the Sarah Sunshine Manning.
“Thursday morning at 11:15 authorities began taking steps to remove the illegal roadblocks and protesters trespassing on private property near Highway 1806,” a Morton County Sheriff’s Department press release stated.
The Treaty Camp is the site two miles from the Missouri River along Highway 1806 on land the Dakota Access Pipeline formally owns. On Sunday, October 23, activists reclaimed the land under their own declaration of eminent domain. The Treaty Camp is located on the Dakota Access Pipeline right of way on property that was formerly known as Cannon Ball Ranch, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Activists also responded to Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier’s declaration that the Standing Rock’s position was unlawful.
“They say ‘You can’t just come in and take over someone’s land…’” a Facebook post from the Sacred Stone Camp reported. “We were here first. And you picked the wrong place for this battle. We are Lakotas/Dakotas, the last warriors who stood up to the U.S. government.”
From New York, the tribe’s chairman also delivered a message of support.
“The camp is at the point where the pipe has to cross Highway 1806, and the law enforcement, the government, and the state is saying you cannot occupy that space,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said. “It’s causing a potential conflict. The company, Dakota Access Pipeline, is pressing on forward, even though there was an ask by the three agencies, departments of Army, and Interior, Justice. They continue to construct no matter what.
DAPL crews hurrying construction toward easement area, nearly three miles from Missouri River
“What we’re seeing is a lot of law enforcement presence, I would say hundreds of law enforcement. Morton County has called in resources from all over.”
“I can’t stress enough,” Kirchmeier said. “This is a public safety issue. We cannot have protesters blocking county roads, blocking state highways, or trespassing on private property.”
Despite the inconveniences to local residents, many ranchers and farmers have stopped by to offer the activists assistance, many activists report. Some have brought wood for fires; others have expressed respect for the cause.
Morton County State’s Attorney has also filed charges against two activists who allegedly attacked Phelim McAleer and crew on October 18. McAleer says he is a journalist, but is known as a pro-oil public relations agitator, and “professional character assassin.” The suspects, Kareen Lewis and James White, face class C felony charges.
Militarized police advance on Highway 1806 blockade; confrontation imminent
By C.S. Hagen
CANNONBALL – Energy Transfer Partners is attempting to pull Morton County’s legal strings. A statement released by the Texas-based company on Tuesday demanded activists to vacate company-owned lands, or face the consequences.
“Lawless behavior will not be tolerated,” the company stated. “Alternatively and in coordination with local law enforcement and county/state officials all trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and removed from the land.”
In a move many call unlawful and controversial, Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, quietly purchased 6,000 acres of the Cannon Ball Ranch on September 22, claiming it was needed as a buffer zone for their 1,172-mile-long oil pipeline.
Activists’ blockade on Highway 1806 Wednesday, October 26 – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
On Sunday, hundreds of activists moved tipis and tents directly into the pipeline’s pathway, and under their own eminent domain laws reclaimed the land in question that was originally theirs according to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Devastating national disasters that came after the 1944 Pick-Sloan Plan for building flood controlling dams along the Missouri River eventually led to a condemnation suit in 1960 that gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers title to lands in the immediate area.
The Cannon Ball Ranch was established in 1883, and was inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1999. The 20 parcels of the Cannon Ball Ranch previously owned by David and Kathy Meyer, are lands the Standing Rock Sioux claim are sacred, filled with burial grounds, and also where attack dogs led by DAPL security personnel bit at least half a dozen activists.
Seven archaeologists from the State Historical Society of North Dakota conducted a pedestrian survey of a portion of the area, and determined there were no human burial grounds on the land.
“The inventory recorded ten locations where rodent-to-bovine-sized mammal bone fragments and teeth were present,” Chief Archaeologist Paul Picha said in a September 21 report. “No cultural material was observed in the inspected corridor. No human bone or other evidence of burials was recorded in the inventoried corridor.”
An area map provided by the State Historical Society of North Dakota shows the area in question, somewhere between the Meyer’s former land, now purchased by DAPL, its proximity to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ land, and the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
Recently, Hollywood movie stars, including Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, and Shailene Woodley, who plead not guilty on Wednesday to misdemeanor charges in Morton County District Court, have been speaking out against the Peace Garden State’s tactics.
Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, and Shailene Woodley are all campaigning against big oil.
“This just has to stop,” Ruffalo said in an Indigenous Environmental Network live feed after being turned away by police barricade near Cannonball. “We’re going to win. I just want to say for anyone with money in this pipeline better start pulling that money out now, in another couple of months they’re going to lose their shirts, because we’re going to kick the crap out of this thing. In a peaceful way.”
“Not only is it an environmental, but it’s a problem in terms of social justice,” Sarandon told activists at a rally in Los Angeles.
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Reverend Jesse Jackson also traveled to North Dakota Wednesday to show support to the activists. “I am proud to stand with the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to say enough is enough,” Jackson said in a press release. “I ask the government to keep its promises, to protect the sacred sites of the tribe and the water that million of Americans count on to survive.”
“We have the resources, we have the manpower to go down and end this right now. We have that ability,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said. “But what we did today was go down and reach out to the camps.”
Laney, who serves as Morton County Sheriff’s Department operations chief, said he approached the activists at the roadblock, and told them to clear the highway, go back to the Seven Council Fires camps, because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t have a problem with them being there. “And then let’s talk.
“They said absolutely they’re not going to leave, they’re going to draw their line in the sand at 1806. They’re going to make their stand there.”
“Our message was simple, remove the illegal road block, move off the private property, and return to the camp on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said. “Unfortunately, I am very saddened by the response of the protesters’ spokesperson. He repeatedly told our group they we’re ‘not moving’ and that they would hold their ground at the north encampment which is on private property.”
Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney
He said the Morton County Sheriff’s Department is being depicted as the jack-booted thug, looking for confrontation. “But we don’t want a confrontation. We’re trying everything we can to not have to do that. We’re having our hand forced, and at some point rule of law has to be enforced. We have to defend rule of law.”
Kirchmeier has been in contact with tribal leaders, Laney said. The two-month long misconception that Kirchmeier took ceremonial peace pipes for pipe bombs is wrong. Tribal leaders, Laney said, told Kirchmeier that pipe bombs were being made in the camp.
Since early August, nearly 270 people have been arrested, many of whom were stripped, on misdemeanor and felony charges.
“Today is the day that they’re going to try and remove everybody”
By C.S. Hagen MANDAN – An investigation launched by Morton County Sheriff’s Department has proven the dog handlers on September 3 were not properly licensed to perform security work in the Peace Garden State.
But because security personnel cannot be identified, no charges are forthcoming from county law enforcement, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
“Through this investigation it has become evident that many security companies have been hired to do security work for the DAPL pipeline project,” Morton County Captain Jay Gruebele said. “Although lists of security employees have been provided, there is no way of confirming whether the list is accurate or if names have been purposefully withheld.”
Dog handlers have come and gone, Gruebele said, making it impossible to identify who was involved.”
Seven dogs and seven handlers were involved during the September 3 dog attacks, Gruebele said. The attack dogs were deployed in an attempt to keep the activists under control.
The owner of Ohio-based Frost Kennels, a security firm that specializes in guard dogs, said they were at the scene on September 3.
“We went out there to do a job and we did it,” Bob Frost, the owner, said. “So we just said f*ck it, and got our dogs, and tried to make a bridge between them and the workers. We did not go out to attack people, but they knocked down a fence and entered private property. I tell you what, if someone came onto my own yard, I’d have the right to shoot them, it’s the law.”
Today, Wednesday, October 26, may be the day Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier plans to shut the activists down, Bruce Ellison, a long-term criminal defense lawyer, said. He heard the rumor second hand, and the report needs validation, he said.
“The Sheriff today said that today is the day that they’re going to try and remove everybody,” Ellison said. He is also the legal team coordinator of the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee.
Ellison was disappointed with the news that no charges are pending.
“The sheriff’s department seems to be very inclined towards not doing that, not actually seeking to promote charges,” Ellison said. “The whole actions of the law enforcement seem to be geared toward going after people who were the victims rather than the assailants.
Dakota Access Pipeline private security with attack dog on September 3 – online sources
“The wounds that those dogs inflicted were horrific, and completely unnecessary and unprovoked. It is disconcerting that the people who have sworn to protect the people seem more interested in protecting corporations once again.”
The Lawyer’s Guild is preparing litigation. “We don’t intend to let this go. We are also very also concerned about the fact the Sheriff’s Department stood by and watched and the federal authorities at least have taken the position that there is no right to law enforcement protection, which is outrageous.
“It’s part of the systemic problem that people have as they try to exercise their First Amendment rights.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s fingerprints are all over the controversy, Ellison said. “This is a domestic security operation, and it was an FBI agent to one of our attorneys who mentioned that they didn’t see any violation of human rights or criminal, and that law enforcement has no obligation to protect people.”
The FBI is also investigating the firm’s lawyers, he said, and delivered an ominous threat.
“The FBI delivered an implicit threat to people out in the fields resisting the pipeline should not be surprised if some landowner shoots them,” Ellison said. “This is very outrageous. People are in the situation where they don’t have anywhere they can turn for protection.”
The entire area surrounding the new camp is militarized, and law enforcement is slowly circling closer, Ellison said. Hundreds of police officers from around the country are being brought in.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department report has been forwarded to the Morton County State’s Attorney’s office and the North Dakota Private Investigators and Security Board for possible charges. The report also included an evaluation along the pipeline easement where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has repeatedly said hold significant sacred sites.
“Morton County is in concurrence with the North Dakota State Archaeologist’s findings that their inspection ‘yielded no evidence of human remains or significant sites’ along the DAPL construction corridor,” Gruebele said.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department received no information on reports of bite injuries. At least six activists were bitten by dogs, according to Angela Bibens, camp attorney.
In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration instituted a no-fly zone at Cannonball yesterday, citing temporary hazardous conditions. The restrictions start at ground level and up to 4,000 feet, according to the FAA.
“No pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas covered by this NOTAM,” the FAA reported. The FAA made an exception for aircraft flown by law enforcement for their tactical operation center.
Ethics, racism, and a cry for justice along a rural Dakota highway
By C.S. Hagen CANNONBALL – Highway 1806 is more than a road to Standing Rock activists.
The pitched hills dotted with wild sage, the roaming buffalo herds, the listless ponds hedged by crooked elms, are postcard perfect, revealing nothing of the racial hatred and violence the lands have seen in the past 200 years.
“1806 is more than the number of the highway,” Rissa Williams, an activist said. “It is the year of their mindset.”
Mindset of the Peace Garden State, Williams said.
She went to sleep in a yurt Saturday night, nervous. Woke up at 4:30 a.m. to a friend’s baby crying, nervous. Got dressed, had coffee, and geared up to face the inevitable arrival of militarized police. While heading to the front line, an eagle watched her from its nest.
“We prayed he’d watch over us,” Williams said. “We joked away our nerves, prayed and smudged, and waited. We joked about who could run the fastest. It was pretty clear that slow me would be an early arrest.”
Rissa Williams (right) and best friend – photo provided by Rissa Williams
If arrested, Williams could lose her part time job as a substitute teacher’s aide in Bismarck. She would see the sheriff’s deputy she knew from church if she was hauled to jail. How would she make bond? All these questions and more quickened her nerves. Police gathered to the west, and still she and nearly 600 others waited on lands the Lakota reclaimed under their own eminent domain laws Sunday morning.
The only way to find calm was to pray and dance, Williams said. “We danced and sang and prayed, summoning peace and courage to face whatever they had planned for us.” A young man next to her saw her faltering.
“He looked me in the eyes and saw my fear and danced right behind me until I settled down. Then I saw him and others doing the same all throughout the circle. I’ve never felt anything like that young man holding and disposing my fear and sharing his courage until I could re-find my own.”
Until now, law enforcement has yet to move in on Standing Rock’s new camp. The Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II has called upon the U.S. Department of Justice for an investigation.
“The DOJ should be enlisted and expected to investigate the overwhelming reports and videos demonstrating clear strong-arm tactics, abuses and unlawful arrests by law enforcement,” Archambault said.
As the Dakota Access nears the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ easement along the Missouri River, state law enforcement in the past two weeks have militarized, and cracked down, frequently beating activists to action sites. Excluding a walk-through along the pipeline by some of the parties concerned last week, dialogue from both sides is nearly non-existent.
After a request for information from Governor Jack Dalrymple’s office, the office said there has been no correspondence between the governor and Archambault within the past two weeks.
Dakota Nice
Jace Riggin, a white person, who grew up with a “foot in two worlds,” on the Spirit Lake Nation reservation, is politically active in Minnesota, but calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to send officials to Standing Rock ground to provide council and protect citizen rights.
Riggin called the state’s Public Service Commission to inquire on correspondence between the government agency and the Standing Rock Sioux. “No direct letter had been sent to the tribal council, however, in their opinion the tribe was adequately notified because there was a press release sent out to tribal newspapers.”
Activist arrested and hooded – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Additionally, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers states the tribe was not consulted properly, or treated as a sovereign nation. Activists, movie stars, chiefs of state, and journalists have been arrested on misdemeanors, stripped naked and forced to squat before admittance into Morton County Correctional Center. Attack dogs have bitten activists; children have been sprayed by mace. Charges filed by the State’s Attorney’s office are becoming felonies. Officials are demanding cash bonds for release; lawyers working pro-bono are not allowed to talk to their clients face to face, camp attorney Angela Bibens said. Cattle rustlers have killed and shot at livestock in Morton and Sioux counties, and local eyes turn toward Standing Rock. During mass arrests on Saturday, some arrested experienced hooding, which constituted torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Hooding is disorientating, and keeps the victim from breathing freely, according to a 2006 shadow report by the American Civil Liberties Union and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The old narrative against America’s indigenous described by Archambault seems to be alive and well and living in the Peace Garden State.
“We are disappointed to see that our state and congressional delegations and Governor Jack Dalrymple have failed to ensure the safety and rights of the citizens engaged in peaceful protests who were arrested on Saturday,” Archambault said in a statement. “Their lack of leadership and commitment to creating a dialogue towards a peaceful solution reflects not only the unjust historical narrative against Native Americans, but a dangerous trend in law enforcement tactics across America.”
Morton County Sheriff disagreed.
“The claim that law enforcement is escalating this situation is simply untrue,” Kirchmeier said in a press release. “The law enforcement personnel from across the state, and now across the country have shown incredible professionalism and unbelievable restraint in the face of more and more aggressive tactics and illegal activity from the protestors. As we have stated from the very beginning, we fully respect the First Amendment rights of all protestors. The protester’s rights are just as important as those of the citizens of Morton County. But they are not more important.”
A total of 269 activists have been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon, approximately ten percent of the thousands gathered near Standing Rock reservation.
Activists have long questioned police tactics, but now, North Dakota natives and Fargo city leaders are raising questions of their own.
“The Department of Justice needs to be on the ground,” Riggin said. “North Dakota is one of ten states that does not have an ethics committee, the state government is not beholden to an ethics committee. ”
Fargo City Commissioner John Strand echoed Riggin’s call. “In my personal and professional perspectives, I’d absolutely join in requesting that the U.S. Department of Justice deploy independent, expert observers to the various Dakota Access Pipeline locations where there are escalating conflicts between law enforcement and activists,” Strand said.
“As a member of the Fargo Native American Commission, and as an elected official representing all citizens of Fargo, some there on assignment and others there to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, it behooves all of us to strive for a diplomatic, peaceful resolution to this complex situation.”
Why would North Dakota need an ethics commission? An ethics commission is an oversight committee that sets ethical standards, handles indictments pertaining to ethics violations, codes of conduct, and ethical guidance within a society. In a nutshell, it would be the commission or council that would check and balance governmental branches. This type of structure helps ensure public confidence in elected officials and protect citizen rights, Riggin said.
Activists en route to an action on Highway 1806 – photo by C.S. Hagen
Congress passed the First Amendment on September 25, 1789, ratified it on December 15, 1791, and its first 10 amendments form the Bill of Rights. It states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Kirchmeier maintains activists are breaking the law because they’re trespassing on private property. North Dakota Highway Patrol Captain Bryan Niewind called Saturday’s protest an unlawful riot, creating a dangerous environment.
Archambault and activists call for civil disobedience, and they’re willing to commit. Their actions along the pipeline’s route consist of prayer, song, and dance – spiritual traditions and speech that fall under the protection of the First Amendment, Archambault said.
“What are the goals of our elected officials?” Riggin said. “What are their motives?”
Currently, the ethics oversight agencies in the Peace Garden State are: the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is the standing committee of the North Dakota State Senate and is primarily responsible for elections, election privileges, and judiciary issues; the Senate Rules Committee, which is primarily responsible for investigating and studying proposed amendments to rules, and the House Judiciary Committee, whose sole function is to study bills before being brought to the House of Representatives. Over all of these, is the Secretary of State, whose duties cover a wide range of issues.
An ethics commission might give Morton County law enforcement and the Peace Garden State politicians pause, depending on who was on the ethics committee, Riggin said.
“The short answer is yes, it would help. It would help with transparency.”
Representative Corey Mock D-N.D., of Grand Forks, has been pushing for years to establish an ethics commission in the Peace Garden State. He described many instances when an ethics commission, not a committee, could have overseen justice in the Peace Garden State.
North Dakota National Guard blockading Highway 1806 – photo by Annie Gao
“North Dakota, we’re the only state in the union that does not have an ethics commission or committee, which means that if a citizen, if an official, or someone is concerned that an elected official or appointed official, someone in government, is acting unethically, may not necessarily be violating the law, but may be taking advantage of the system, gaming the system, doing things for personal gain, may or may not be legal, there is no place for either A. no place to air that concern, and B. no place for the official to defend themselves,” Mock said. “There’s no due process.”
The most regular criticism of an ethics commission is that it will create an environment for half-hearted criticisms against officials, Mock said.
“We actually do a disservice to the people and to the government by not having an oversight committee that can air the concerns, that can operate under fact and not under a presumption of guilt, and provide a little accountability to our governance.”
As of 2014, the North Dakota Legislature described policy under the recognition of ethical standards category. “The resolution of ethical problems must rest largely in the individual conscience,” meaning exactly how it sounds, Riggin said. And “…to resist influences that may bias a member’s independent judgment.”
“You hope that people look at that and their internal conscience guides them in the right direction,” Mock said. “But we can look back and see where elected officials have acted in poor judgment, and almost been rewarded for their behavior, let alone suffered any consequences.”
Such as the case of Bismarck Representative Dave Weiler, now a golf professional, who was arrested a second time in 2010 after beating his wife. He was ordered to get a psychological evaluation and counseling for domestic violence. Even after his second arrest, Bismarck folksinger Kris Kitko attempted a recall campaign against Weiler, but in July 2010 prosecutor Ladd Erickson dismissed the charge against Erickson after his wife changed her statement.
Or perhaps in 2013 when the North Dakota courts dismissed a petition lacking a handful of verified signatures, and then later dismissed an appeal led by Grand Forks Attorney David Thompson saying the state’s governor was guilty of bribery related to oil industry donations to his campaign.
“This is a cesspool, and that’s not an understatement,” Thompson said about the state of the Peace Garden State. In a news story featuring North Dakota’s oil boom in the New York Times, Thompson said Dalrymple was guilty of accepting bribes. “North Dakota is a hugely defective setup,” Thompson said in the article. “Our elected officials regulate companies they get contributions from and companies they own stock in. Nobody ever recuses himself; they just vote.”
Elected officials should recuse themselves from a legislative vote if they’re financially invested or if their campaigns are being financed by, for example, big oil, Mock said.
“An ethics committee or commission would absolutely be the place for those complaints to be investigated and properly vetted,” Mock said.
An ethics committee differs from an ethics commission. A committee would be an internal level of oversight, where a commission would be larger panel of elected and appointed officials, medical, legal, forensic, and law enforcement experts, who would investigate and make recommendations.
For now, however, any person in North Dakota with a valid complaint against an official must first take the case to the related department’s supervisor, then to the governor’s office, or to the county, and then if needed to the state’s attorney general.
As of November 2015, the Peace Garden State had no laws restricting the use of campaign funds, and received an overall D-rating from The Center for Public Integrity. The state received F-grades for lobbying disclosure, ethics enforcement agencies, state pension fund management, state civil service management, executive and legislative accountability, and public access to information, according to the center. Later, the Peace Garden State stepped up, a little, claiming 37th place in the nation.
“We certainly do not hold up well when we are analyzed by independent groups, as they’re analyzing North Dakota and how we handle challenges internally, we score very poorly when it comes to ethics and oversight,” Mock said.
“When outsiders and North Dakotans truly look at our laws they go, ‘How is this possible?” A citizen’s only recourse boils down to hoping for criminal charges, or circulating information among the rumor mill, Mock said.
Attorney Chase Iron Eyes said an ethics commission in the Peace Garden State must be created.
“It’s like anything, if you don’t have enforceable ethics, we can expect more of the same,” Iron Eyes said. Iron Eyes is also running for congress against Kevin Cramer R-N.D., who is supported heavily by big oil interests, and recently met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to try to hurry the pipeline toward the Missouri River. “More politicians are bought out by big oil. They can’t bite the hand that feeds them.”
The state’s legislative document continues: “Not using the member’s official position to obtain financial gain for the member, the member’s family, or a business associate or to secure privileges or exemptions in direct contravention of the public interest.”
And so, the Cartesian Wheel turns, over and over, Iron Eyes said, a repetition that resembles a “revolving door” of companies influencing politicians who influence state departments who legislate law that all too easily oppresses people.
“If there is a heightened ethical stance for attorneys, then it should be the same for politicians.”
If a government official was found to be in violation of ethics, which in the Peace Garden State would be difficult to prove, especially since the House needs a two-thirds majority vote to impeach an elected person – in a state as Republican red as North Dakota – there would be little punishment, Riggin said.
“What this means they would be removed from office, shamed, and if they did not break the law they would not be punished in any other way.”
Riggin has traveled to Standing Rock, and over the weekend college students from Gustavus Adolphus College volunteered to donate a fully winterized tent to the camps. After recent events, the college decided the trip was not safe enough for the school to fund, reviewing it on a level with overseas excursions. The students decided the trip had to be made. They fundraised, and made the trip mostly on their own dime.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe flag, Highway 1806 in background – photo by C.S. Hagen
Riggin also stressed that his Lutheran perspective and deep faith have led him to speak out. “As Lutherans, the Social Statement on Care for Creation and the Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery cry for us to stand with Standing Rock,” Riggin said. Furthermore, he sees the media playing a detrimental role in events playing out along the Dakota Access Pipeline.
He also sees the media playing a detrimental role in events playing out along the Dakota Access Pipeline as well. “I cannot allow the Fargo Forum to spread the narrative that they are,” Riggin said. “I have seen the Fargo Forum turn from a reputable news source that was trusted, to give North Dakotans unbiased information, to the Fargo Forum today that has very clearly demonstrated by continuously publishing Rob Port, and I will name him, that they are not interested in unbiased journalism, and they are not interested in representing the hopes, needs, and concerns of the native people at Standing Rock.”
Local Color
For weeks, media and elected officials have been trying to link activists to cattle rustlers in Morton County after the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association reported 30 missing cattle, two dead saddle horses, three dead bison, and four dead cows. Some of the cattle were found butchered in Sioux County, according to the NDSA.
“We’re still following up on every lead we get,” NDSA Chief Brand Inspector Stan Misek said. “But we haven’t found any of them yet.” Including the 30 head of cattle that activists reported were found, are still missing, Misek said.
Misek added that people are wary, and law enforcement is frequently on patrol in Sioux County.
On October 18, the NDSA reported the North Dakota Congressional Delegation, including senators Heidi Heitkamp R-N.D., John Hoeven R-N.D., and Cramer, denounced the news of butchered livestock near Cannonball, insinuating that activists in the area were involved. The delegation asked for reinforcements from the federal government, and blamed the crime on President Obama’s Administration as well.
“The Administration is to blame for this senseless act,” Cramer said. “Unfortunately, the President and his bureaucrats will be able to hide behind sovereign immunity, providing no means for civil relief from those who are most at fault.”
In an article entitled Accusation of Missing Livestock Made Against Standing Rock Water Protectors Hindered By Reality, writer Larae Meadows denied the insinuation and accusations against Native Americans, citing the difficulties of such crimes due to constant police surveillance and local topography.
“In order to move a heard of cattle from the Sacred Stone Camp to any other camp, the Water Protectors would have to sneak out of camp, slip 30 cattle past two helicopters, a plane, several dozen police officers and federal agents, past a police outpost, and hide them in plain sight of all the law enforcement agencies. In full view of thousands of phone cameras, law enforcement and media, protectors would have to slaughter the cows in camp and afterward eat, preserve, or store all the meat.
“To move one cow at a time or a couple of bison, the water protectors would have to slip past the massive security thirty times.”
In addition, the Lakota Sioux vehemently denied killing a horse, as horses are prized, and to kill one is considered “an extremely serious offense.”
On October 17, AM 1090 KTGO The Flag radio station featured a St. Anthony rancher, Doug Hille.
“Doug Hille, who is a resident down there by the Dakota Access Pipeline,” the show’s host, Dennis Lindahl, greeted Hille. “Good morning, Doug.”
“Good morning, how are you?”
“Excellent. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to join us,” Lindahl said. “And so, you know, I read the story about the cattle that’s missing, and some of the butchered cattle that’s happening, from your perspective, what’s going on down there?”
“It’s really something that’s disturbing, because all along when this thing first started fences were cut, cattle were run off, all kinds of other things were happening,” Hille said. “It’s just one more step in the harassment, and uh, the uh, I’m searching for the proper word… the people hate anybody who doesn’t agree with their cause.
“I find something even more appalling than them going out stealing butchering and harassing cattle, and there’s a little bit of checking to be done. Most of the food pantries in Bismarck and Mandan have been stripped. And these people have a 850,000-dollar ‘go-free’ account for anybody who gets thrown in jail. They’re immediately bailed out with this account, and this bothers the hell out of me.”
“That is absolutely unbelievable, that’s an angle we have not heard before,” Lindahl said. Lindahl asked what was local reaction to indigenous people saying their land was stolen.
“It’s saber rattling,” Hille said. “It’s threatening… It’s not comfortable. Do they want to open up the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 80s? I don’t know.”
The Sioux, Hille went on to say, were basically lazy people, they would steal, hunt, and pillage, and they never prepared for winter.
“We need to [make them] somehow integrate themselves into society. Right now they have no self worth.”
Lindahl responded saying natives have a low standard of living, and do not understand the value of a “good day’s hard work. We’re battling culture, it’s not race, and I think when people on that side, the other side of the opinion, when they try to take it down to the lowest rung of the ladder and say that it’s race, I think they’re really, really mistaken… It’s not about race, its about some people don’t know the value of work.”
“I agree with that,” Hille said. “For generations, there has not been hardly anybody available to mentor these people.” Generations of welfare cases put in the corner means the reservation system doesn’t work, Hille said.
“If that means giving us financial hardship, giving us a hard time… that’s what they’ll do. It’s just appalling the depths that these people will go to for their cause… They’ve lost control of the camp. I can’t feel sorry for the Standing Rock people; they brought this on themselves. Most of us have lost our tolerance for the Native Americans. Sorry. It’s called racial profiling or whatever you want as much as we try, it’s going to be hard.”
Calls for U.S. Department of Justice to halt pipeline, investigate the law
By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL – The head of state, chief, and chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Dave Archambault II, called upon the U.S. Department of Justice for an injunction against the Dakota Access Pipeline on Monday morning.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II – photo by C.S. Hagen
“We are disappointed to see that our state and congressional delegations and Governor Jack Dalrymple have failed to ensure the safety and rights of the citizens engaged in peaceful protests who were arrested on Saturday,” Archambault said in a statement. “Their lack of leadership and commitment to creating a dialogue towards a peaceful solution reflects not only the unjust historical narrative against Native Americans, but a dangerous trend in law enforcement tactics across America.”
In total, 269 activists have been arrested since early August, nearly half of them taken into custody on Saturday and spread to jails across the Peace Garden State to spend the weekend behind bars.
“Today’s situation clearly illustrates what we have been saying for weeks,” Morton County Sheriff Kirchmeier said after the mass arrests. “That this protest is not peaceful or lawful… this is not about the pipeline. This is not about the protesters. This is about the rule of law.”
Activists are not protesting, they’re protecting, Standing Rock Sioux leaders said.
More than 900 law enforcement officials from 17 counties, 12 cities, and four states are currently using public funds to protect Energy Transfer Partner’s private project, known as DAPL. Wielding batons, automatic weapons, driving in armored vehicles, and spraying mace, with the North Dakota National Guard at their backs, and Dalrymple’s declaration of an emergency state in August, expenditures are rising – fast.
Archambault condemned Kirchmeier’s tactics.
“The militarization of local law enforcement and enlistment of multiple law enforcements agencies from neighboring states is needlessly escalating violence and unlawful arrests against peaceful protestors at Standing Rock,” Archambault said. “We do not condone reports of illegal actions, but believe the majority of peaceful protesters are reacting to strong-arm tactics and abuses by law enforcement.
“Thousands of water protectors have joined the tribe in solidarity against DAPL, without incident or serious injury. Yet, North Dakota law enforcement has proceeded with a disproportionate response to their nonviolent exercise of their First Amendment rights, even going as far as labeling them rioters and calling their every action illegal.”
Lawyers are being denied access to prisoners, camp attorney and ground coordinator Angela Bibens said. Many, if not all activists, including Archambault, have been strip-searched, and her firm calls the practice unwarranted and degrading.
“For these reasons, we believe the situation at Standing Rock deserves the immediate and full attention of the DOJ. Furthermore, the DOJ should impose an injunction to all developments at the pipeline site to keep all citizens – law enforcement and protestors – safe. The DOJ should be enlisted and expected to investigate the overwhelming reports and videos demonstrating clear strong-arm tactics, abuses and unlawful arrests by law enforcement.
“Preventing government agencies from stripping protestors and tribal members of their constitutional rights to organize and protect our sacred places and water is paramount to both U.S. citizens and tribal sovereignty.”
Dozens of Standing Rock activists undergo debasing treatment; “fake journalists” stir up trouble, and North Dakota politicians pressure Army Corps to speed the pipeline
By C.S. Hagen CANNONBALL – An ancient, bloodless war fuels the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy. It’s a war of words and aged rhetoric; a war of cultures beckoning back the “good old days” of Manifest Destiny and settlers versus the Indians.
Fear the scalp-taking Indian, North Dakota government appears to be saying; save the peaceful colonial homesteader. Little is ever mentioned by official sources about the Native Americans’ side of the story. Their version is simply not as important when compared to finishing the USD 3.8 billion, 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline.
In 150 years, little has changed, according to activists, on how federal and state governments treat Native Americans. Newspapers spread fear, espoused by the law, handed down by politicians who are financially invested into the Bakken oil fields, whose campaigns this election year do those same companies fund, Chase Iron Eyes, the Democrat Party challenger for state congress, said.
The U.S. Cavalry never went away, they merely changed uniforms. More than 900 law enforcement officials from 17 counties, 12 cities, and from four states using public funds have been involved in protecting Energy Transfer Partner’s private project.
“We’re choking on hate and nobody seems to care,” camp attorney Angela Bibens said.
Law enforcement versus activists on Dakota Plains Oct. 22 – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
The battle for water and land led by the Standing Rock Sioux against DAPL is far from over, and media on both sides of the controversy have woven stories from legends, half-truths, and hearsay. Tempers flare as DAPL nears the Missouri River, and militarized law enforcement show no pity.
In the beginning there were pipe bombs, which turned out to be ceremonial peace pipes. And then law enforcement reported activists carrying guns, yet no one was arrested. DAPL security personnel from Ohio’s Frost Kennels sprayed mace and urged attack dogs into crowds, resulting in at least half a dozen bites, and yet law enforcement insists activists were the danger. Recently, 30 head of cattle were reported missing, and then three days later mysteriously resurrected by a Sioux County rancher. Two other cows have been found shot in Sioux County, one by bullets, one by arrows, and law enforcement and media are trying to link the crime to activists in the area.
Law enforcement making arrests Saturday, Oct. 22 – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier repeatedly emphasizes the activists near Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation are dangerous. Activists’ criminal records are being made public, yet no effort has been made to check pipeline workers’ past brushes with the law, which should be swamped with outstanding warrants if the state lives up to its man camp reputation.
Arrested on the plains near DAPL – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Since Saturday morning, 126 more activists were arrested on riot charges along the DAPL pipeline, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. Two officers were injured, one by his own pepper spray. In total, 269 people have been charged with misdemeanors and felonies since early August.
“Today’s situation clearly illustrates what we have been saying for weeks,” Kirchmeier said. “That this protest is not peaceful or lawful. This is not about the pipeline. This is not about the protesters. This is about the rule of law.”
From the controversy’s start, Morton County Correctional Facility officers have been strip searching – nearly every activist arrested, no matter the charge. Simple misdemeanors to felonies, all are being treated the same.
“It’s a tactic of trying to break you down, and degrade you, make you feel shamed,” Cody Hall said. Hall is the media spokesman for the Red Warrior Camp, and was arrested in early September, held for three days without bail or bond.
Miqamwes M’teoulin being treated after police sprayed him twice in the face on October 22 – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
“They have you get naked,” Hall said. “And then he grabbed my genitals and lifted them up, then he said squat, and then he said cough. And then he was looking, when I bent down, he kind of bent down.”
A scare tactic, Hall said. Morton County Correctional Facility reported the strip searches are procedure and in the interest of security.
“The duty correctional officer(s) will conduct a complete visual assessment of prisoners being admitted to insure that the prisoner(s) does not have inadmissible/illegal items on his/her possession before entering a security cell/area of the correctional center,” Morton County Correctional Facility’s guidebook states.
The guidebook continues by stating “admissions procedures will be carried out by correctional staff in a manner which promotes mutual respect rather than one which degrades the prisoner(s) admitted.”
“That’s all I saw it as,” Hall said. “It’s a tactic they were trying to deploy on me, in a way of taking my dignity. You’ll crumble if you don’t have that… dignity.”
Furthermore, an inmate cannot be detained in the holding cell for longer than one hour, although the duty senior correctional officer can make exceptions. Inmates in the holding cell are also allowed to use cell phones, and are closely monitored by duty officers, according to the correctional facility’s guidelines.
Myron Dewey, a filmmaker, was charged with a class-A misdemeanor. Like Hall, he was stripped down, and because he has a ponytail, officers rifled through his hair. He was then put into a visitor’s holding area for three hours, he said. “It was a really small room, barely enough room for one person.”
“Leaving me in that visitor’s area didn’t seem right, they should have put me in the holding cell,” Dewey said. When he went to the courtroom, one of the officers involved in his arrest waited for him in the hallway. “The officer who stole my drone was standing in the hallway,” Dewey said. “And he was trying to look at me like he was some, I don’t know, it was the eye contact. I thought that was kind of odd. He was there to let me see him for a reason.”
Dewey’s drone was “arrested” under civil forfeiture laws after an unnamed DAPL worker filed an intimidation report. When Dewey attempted to clarify questions and gather facts, law enforcement officials refused to listen and forced him from the Morton County Sheriff Department premises.
After being strip-searched, they’re all given the orange jumpsuit.
Activists on the plains marching Oct. 22 – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
Others who have claimed they too were strip searched include: Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II, a chief of a sovereign state, Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle, a pediatrician, Divergent actress Shailene Woodley, and Dale “Happi” Americanhorse Jr., the first activist to chain his arms to machinery with a sleeping tar dragon.
Bruce Ellison, a long-term criminal defense lawyer and legal team coordinator of the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee, said the practice is nonsensical. Ellison and his team are also not allowed direct access to clients and must discuss the dozens of cases through glass windows and telephone conversations, which are being recorded, Bibens said.
“We have a lot of questions about that,” Ellison said. “When there are strip searches for lowest grade misdemeanors on the books in North Dakota – that certainly raises questions. We had one woman who was left naked in her cell overnight for the viewing of male guards.
“This seems unusual.”
Ladonna McLaughlin claims to have been left overnight naked in a cell, according to Bibens. Her family is preparing to sue Morton County.
“Where do we live?” Ladonna Allard, McLaughlin’s mother, said. “Is this the United States? This is a police state.” She was not ready to speak about the upcoming lawsuit, not until it is filed, she said.
“We are preparing litigation to address the violations that have occurred within the Morton County Jail,” Bibens said. She is a Santee-Dakota by birth, is the ground coordinator of the Red Owl Legal Collective, and also works as the camp’s attorney.
Most of the reported 126 people arrested Saturday have been spread to jails across the Peace Garden State, Bibens said. Costs of keeping a prisoner overnight is USD 100 for the Morton County Jail, times that by 269, then multiplied by how many nights, the costs add up.
“Hardly anyone is out,” Bibens said. “Parents are calling me from everywhere because they’re not allowing their 19-year-olds to bail out.” Officials around the Peace Garden State are now requiring cash only for bonds, are instituting special rules, and most activists arrested won’t get an opportunity for release until judges arrive at work Monday morning. “There’s an equal protection due process issue, if you’re related to the camps, then you get treated this way,” Bibens said.
“They’re not in any hurry to process any of our water protectors.”
Additionally, the Red Warrior Camp, the activists’ most secure group, reported law enforcement shot down two drones with shotguns on Saturday. Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported “less-than-lethal ammunition” was used on a drone on Sunday charging a helicopter with a sheriff on board.
The helicopter pilot and passengers were “in fear of their lives” when the “drone came after us,” according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department press release. Two arrows were also fired at the helicopter, according to Kirchmeier.
On Sunday, Dewey reported nearly 700 Native Americans and activists enacted “their sovereign rights” proclaiming eminent domain along Dakota Access Pipeline route, effectively blockading Highway 1806 with hay bales, rocks, and tree stumps, on lands that once belonged to the Sioux under 18th century treaties. Tipis and tents were erected. A sacred fire was lit. The land, according to Dewey, has been desecrated, and they are returning it back to the natural and spiritual balance.
Barricade across Highway 1806 built by activists on Sunday, Oct. 23 – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“All tribes across the country witnessed this historical day, October 23,” Dewey said. “This is a very special moment in Indian law as well, inherent rights have just been exercised. Our inherent rights to clean food, clean drinking water, medicine, clean air, all of those rights have just been practiced.”
The move is called the “Last Stand” by activists before DAPL reaches the Missouri River.
In response, Morton County Sheriff’s Department blocked off Highway 1806 “due to a large group of protesters blocking the north and south bound lanes.” The barricade was dismantled later Sunday afternoon after law enforcement asked activists to take it down.
“Individuals trespassing on private property can’t claim eminent domain to justify their actions,” Kirchmeier said.
“Thirty Minutes of Terror”
Phelim McAleer, who identified himself as an Irish journalist to Morton County emergency personnel, is the director of the film FrackNation, a movie some say is part of the big oil campaign to debunk the harmful affects of fracking. McAleer traveled to the Standing Rock area last week to “get the truth about the story on both sides,” he said.
The first day he and two others received permission from Seven Council Fires Camp, or Big Camp personnel to conduct interviews, McAleer said. He waited until the second day to pull out the big questions.
Phelim McAleer and camp security scuffling over microphone – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“I asked them if they were being hypocritical,” McAleer said. “Because they were using automobiles to arrive at camp. And then a gentleman grabbed my microphone and dragged me across the field.”
His self-described “thirty minutes of terror” began.
Video of the incident taken primarily from inside a vehicle shows no violence, and yet McAleer insists that his life and property were threatened.
“I was scared, I really was,” McAleer said. He said he has reported news in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and also in Eastern Europe when communism fell. “I’ve been around the block, a journalist for 30 years. It was very scary. There was a sense of lawlessness and anger that led to the unpredictability, feeding off their own energy, getting angrier and angrier. Blowing the horn seemed to excite them, it was escalating and that was the problem. There was no calming voice.
“I could see this getting ridiculously out of control.”
Their vehicle was surrounded. The driver, Magdalena Segieda, another producer of FrackNation, was afraid to put the car in park because the doors would unlock, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Segieda called 911, and law enforcement arrived. McAleer, Segieda, and one other were eventually allowed to leave.
“They’re attacking us for asking questions,” McAleer said in the video.
“This is scary,” Segieda said in the video. “We want to leave.”
“It was a threatening and terrifying situation for the three journalists that were down there,” Kirchmeier said during a press conference. The video was taken from a low vantage point, and shows little outside activity.
McAleer retreated to Ireland after the incident, and isn’t pressing charges. He said Morton County Sheriff’s Department will investigate, and the department has already posted pictures of people involved in the incident on their Facebook page, asking for help identifying those involved. McAleer believes the video footage will speak for itself. “All I want to get is the truth of what’s happening, and I found that truth and it’s an ugly truth,” he said.
Camp authorities report that McAleer was read the rules of the area “one by one,” when he checked in. He was caught documenting children without permission from a parent or guardian, documenting the sacred fire that was off limits, and asking offensive questions of community members. When confronted, McAleer said he did not have a press pass, and that he did not need one, and when he pulled away in his vehicle he hit an unnamed activist.
In YouTube videos, McAleer described water contamination victims due to fracking practices are like bank robbers. “Why do you rob banks? Because, that’s where the money is. Why do you sue oil and gas companies? Because, that’s where the money is.”
McAleer, who has been called a “fake journalist” on big oil’s payroll, denied being supported by big oil companies. He is also known as a “professional character assassin,” and has been documented harassing movie stars and homeowners affected by Cabot Oil & Gas drilling in Pennsylvania. In a question and answer session after a showing of FrackNation in Pennsylvania, McAleer reported that the people with poisoned water, toxic enough to light on fire coming out of their taps, were lying.
“You can call it this, you can call it that, and maybe the truth is somewhere in between,” McAleer said. “And I know to use the word liar is a very strong statement, but they are liars. These are not stupid people, although they do a good job at looking like it. But they lied…
“Sorry. Where is the scientific evidence of your water being contaminated? If you don’t have any, how do you know you have any, you don’t know, you’re lying. You’re making it up, you’re scaring people.”
Closer to home, an April 27, 2016 study released by Duke University, funded by the National Science Foundation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and published in the Environmental Science & Technology magazine shows that accidental wastewater spills from “unconventional oil production in North Dakota have caused widespread water and soil contamination.” More than 9,700 wells have been drilled in the Bakken region of North Dakota in the past decade, which led to more than 3,900 brine spills, primarily from faulty pipes, the report states.
The water studied in some spill sites was unsafe to drink, the study reported.
Political Pressure to Finish the Race
Senator John Hoeven R-N.D., met with the US Army Corps of Engineers last week to pressure the Corps to allow the final easement, a three-mile stretch of land leading up to the Missouri River, which would give DAPL the access it needs to send the pipeline under Lake Oahe.
“That means getting the Corps to approve the easement so construction can be complete and life can return to normal for our farmer and ranchers in the region, and for our law enforcement who are working very hard to protect lives and property,” Hoeven said in a press release. “We need to have this situation resolved.”
Last week, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, representatives from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, state archeologists, and DAPL environmental team members coordinated a walk-through of a portion of the pipeline project, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
The walk through along the pipeline – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“Morton County has been making an effort to bring representatives from the tribe, DAPL, and the state historical society for weeks,” Kirchmeier said. “This is very positive to see that all interested parties could together look at the sites in which they have had differing opinions of the historical significance. While there still may be differences, the conversation was positive and allowed all parties to better understand each other.”
Congressman Kevin Cramer R-N.D., participated. “I believe those of us on all sides of the Dakota Access Pipeline issue benefitted from walking together and sharing our expertise, experiences, and expectations,” Cramer said. “I hope this can help us establish a better understanding going forward. And, I am certain that after today the Corps of Engineers will feel confident it has the adequate affirmation to issue the final easement to complete the pipeline construction across the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.”
While Standing Rock Sioux leaders contemplate whether to move the winter camp to their own lands, one aspect of their fight has not changed. Their fight is not only today against DAPL, but it is a growing global resistance to big oil, and in many activists’ opinions, they are winning.
Even if the pipeline crosses the Missouri River.
“As an activist I never cared about voting,” Iron Eyes said in a Facebook post. “I can see now how apathy about the political process allows establishment paid for politicians to stay in power like a revolving door. Big money pays for their campaigns, the politicians pave the way for their benefactors, the people feel disconnected, nobody cares, and we end up with politicians who suppress votes, militarize and embarrass our state…
“This is a great test for us. We need to be committed to peace on all sides.”
“We remain vigilant and organized,” Red Warrior Camp leaders posted on Facebook. “We’ll see you on the prairie.”
“I have the firm belief that we will stop a pipeline that carries 500,000 barrels of oil a day, and is 60 percent complete… we will stop it in its tracks,” Dallas Goldtooth, a campaign organizer of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said in a speech.
Barricade across Highway 1806 built by activists on Sunday, Oct. 23, later torn down at request – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Activists outside Standing Rock winterize, law enforcement puts more boots on the ground, and state politicians speak their minds
By C.S. Hagen CANNON BALL – Snow fluttered across tipis and tents last weekend, tip-tapping like panicked field mice across canvas. It was not a gentle fat-flaked snow, rather ice, a bone-chilling wintry taste for the activists camped outside of Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
Dried corn cobs, a camp sign with hand written wooden signs hailing from the USA, the Arctic, Paris, and more – photo by C.S. Hagen
As the sun crested Facebook Hill, flooding the prairie with much-needed warmth, a dog howled mournfully. An infant cried. Horses snorted the cold night’s air from their nostrils. Slowly, the camp stirred. A drum beat; an elder greeted the day with native song. Younger “water warriors” screeched like crows, and their cries seemingly echoed from both sides of the Cannon Ball River.
The camps have grown smaller. Some activists, like Dale “Happi” Americanhorse Jr., have traveled to Iowa to assist in what Americanhorse says is a losing battle against Dakota Access Pipeline. Other activists simply cannot handle the elements, for inside a thin canvas tent, deep in the night, cold bites the skin, and by day fierce winds and thinning shade can only toughen or shatter activists’ resolve.
For the thousands that do remain encamped and resolute against the Dakota Access Pipeline, the 17 international banks funding the 1,172-mile project, the politicians whom activists say are forcing agendas and filling pocketbooks, and the federal government’s broken treaty promises, they’re preparing for their own Valley Forge.
“We are fighting three battles right now,” a Facebook post published by the Red Warrior Camp stated. “We are protecting the sacred from the Dakota Access Pipeline, we are defending ourselves from the fascist state armed to harm, and we are reinforcing our camp to face the harsh weather that is arriving.”
Big Camp, outside of Cannon Ball – photo by C.S. Hagen
On Sunday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. dissolved a second emergency motion for an injunction filed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to halt the pipeline project. For weeks, Dakota Access LLP, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, had been ordered to halt all work on the pipeline within 20 miles on either side of Lake Oahe along the Missouri River.
“But ours is not the final word,” U.S. Court of Appeals documents stated. “A necessary easement still awaits government approval – a decision Corps’ counsel predicts is likely weeks away; meanwhile Intervenor DAPL has rights of access to the limited portion of pipeline corridor not yet cleared – where the Tribe alleges additional historic sites are at risk.”
Despite the court ruling, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refused to give its permission for Dakota Access Pipeline to build on Corps lands bordering or under Lake Oahe, and once again recommended that DAPL “voluntarily pause all construction activity” on private lands, according to a press release made available by the U.S. Department of Justice.
DAPL, or the Dakota Access Pipeline, is now legally authorized to continue its project into parts of the no work zone.
Tipis and Mongolian-styled yurts are replacing flimsy North Face tents. Some activists are building wind-breaking fences around their designated spots. Wood stoves are providing warmth in a handful of larger military-styled tents. Massive trees have been brought in for log cabins, hay bales for windbreakers. More activists have moved to the nearby Cannon Ball River, a tributary of the Missouri River, for its wooded banks offer some shelter.
Those that do remain are not surrendering.
On October 8, more than 20 riders from Winona LaDuke’s Honor the Earth organization, and from the Wounded Knee Memorial Riders, the Dakota 38, the Big Foot riders, among others, set off on a four-day horse ride from Standing Rock to Tioga against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Winona LaDuke preparing to begin the four-day horse ride against the flow of the pipeline – photo by C.S. Hagen
“This is our moment,” LaDuke said on the Honor the Earth website. In addition to being a longtime environmentalist LaDuke was also two-time vice presidential candidate for Ralph Nader’s Green Party. “Tribes and First Nations are standing up and standing together to demand an end to the desecration of our lands and the poisoning of our sacred waters.”
Minutes after the riders disappeared into the Dakota prairies an Aztec group performed ritual dances drawing nearly everyone to the Sacred Circle. Native Americans and supporters from around the country, including Fargo residents Cindy Gomez-Schempp of the People’s Press Project 88.1 FM radio, and Barry Nelson, of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, showed their enthusiasm for the ritual dancers, swirling in their emerald and citron feathers from the tropical quetzal and troupial. Air turned sweet with burning copal, or pine tree sap, southern native equivalent to sweetgrass, as the dancers pounded the earth, many in bare feet.
Riders set off through main entrance to Big Camp – photo by C.S. Hagen
“I come here because I need to bear witness to what is happening,” Nelson said. Many national news agencies reporting of the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy are wrong, Nelson said, and the efforts of the Native Americans and others against big oil is “historically incredible,” he said.
Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said he is troubled by the recent court’s decision, but civil disobedience at Standing Rock will not diminish.
“We will continue to support the tribe’s efforts to hold the US federal government accountable for rubber stamping this dirty oil project… This fight is far from over.”
Myron Dewey – from Facebook profile
Although law enforcement and DAPL security are watching and documenting camp activity, activists have digital scouts of their own. Myron Dewey, a filmmaker and drone operator, fought back by documenting pipeline activity with a drone, until the machine was confiscated by Morton County Sheriff’s Department after an unnamed DAPL worker filed an intimidation report. When Dewey attempted to clarify questions and gather facts, law enforcement officials refused to listen and forced him from the Morton County Sheriff Department premises.
Some officers have hidden their nametags, Dewey said, and the officer who “arrested” his drone only offered his badge number on the report. No warrant was issued for his arrest, because in order to do so the DAPL worker would have to be named, Dewey said.
“When our public officials no longer can become identified, they are no longer the public officials,” Dewey said.
Dewey documented DAPL activity with video, photographs, and GPS coordinates 24 miles and then on October 8 – a day before the U.S. District Court of Appeals decision – 16 miles from the Missouri River. Once past the 20-mile marker, Dakota Access LLP work on the pipeline became illegal.
DAPL private security personnel were mysteriously gone on Monday, which was Indigenous People’s Day, formerly known as Columbus Day. “It’s now police policing the pipeline, and they’re there, everywhere, all along the pipeline. This is where the tax dollars are going. You’re seeing militarization of a police force that is not trained in militarization. That’s today.
“It’s really sad. It’s women and children, they’re Native Americans, and people from all over the world.” Much of the assistance is coming from Bismarck, Dewey said, but those who are helping are afraid to give their names for fear of repercussions when they return home.
Dewey offered his views on why he and thousands of others will continue.
“We have a Dakota Access Pipeline entity that has lost its connection, its spirit, to the earth,” Dewey said. “Our goal is to help Dakota Access Pipeline, and all the workers and private security, and also the officers that are protecting that pipeline to get connected to the earth. And then you will understand why we are fighting to protect the water in a good way in prayer.”
Divergent actress Shailene Woodley’s mug shot at Morton County Jail – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
On Indigenous People’s Day, Divergent series movie star Shailene Woodley was arrested along with 26 others by sheriff deputies. A deputy grabbed her jacket as she was walking with her mother toward their vehicle to return to Big Camp, and arrested her for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor. Woodley asked officers why she was singled out for arrest.
“You were identified,” the arresting officer said.
“Alright, I’m being arrested.” Woodley smiled into the camera. Her mother was filming as the officer shackled her daughter’s wrists.
“So everybody knows, we were going to our vehicle, which they had all surrounded, and were waiting for me with giant guns and giant truck behind them, just so they could arrest me.” Woodley said. Law enforcement then led her away in handcuffs.
Woodley posted a USD 500 bond, and could face up to three months in prison and USD 3,000 in fines, according to Morton County Sheriff Department spokesman Rob Keller. Her court date is set for October 24. A total of 27 people were arrested Monday after approximately 300 people protested at two construction sites along the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“All 27 were arrested on the same charges, engaging in a riot and criminal trespass,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, who currently serves as Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier’s operations chief in Morton County, said. “She [Woodley] was one of 27, she was no different than the others.” Laney said he hopes the activists return home now that their message has been heard across America and the U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Standing Rock’s petition for a second time.
Armored police vehicles outside of St. Anthony, ND – online sources
More Boots on the Ground
As Dakota Access LLP’s pipeline nears its finish in Iowa, and is reportedly 68 percent completed across the country, the project is still behind schedule in North Dakota.
Since early August a total of 123 activists have been arrested on misdemeanor and felony charges including criminal trespass, reckless endangerment, and terrorizing law enforcement. Governor Jack Dalrymple declared an emergency state in August, has brought in the National Guard, has asked President Obama for further financial assistance, and has approved out-of-state support from the National Sheriffs’ Association.
“We have basically tapped the resources to a level that we’ve never seen here in North Dakota for one particular incident,” Kirchmeier said in a press conference.
“I’m sorry I have to be here today,” Wyoming’s Laramie County Sheriff Danny Glick and president of the 15-state Western Sheriffs’ Association, said in a press conference. “But my message is simple and direct. I’m here to pledge the support of the nation’s sheriffs to the people of Morton County and North Dakota.”
Kirchmeier believes the collaboration is a win, and 40 deputies from Wisconsin began taking 21-day shifts to assist Morton County law enforcement, but on Wednesday, the 10 from Dane County returned home, according to the Dane County Sheriff’s Office.
“Throughout the week, Sheriff [Dave] Mahoney has engaged in conversations with a wide cross-section of our community, all of whom felt strongly that our deputies should not be involved in the events taking place in North Dakota,” a press release from the Dane County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Kirchmeier also plans to engage in a more proactive stance against anyone who breaks the law. So far, the North Dakota National Guard is still acting in a limited capacity, primarily working the roadblock on Highway 1806.
“Protesters have disdained the rule of law, and that has resulted in a heightened level of fear and concerns among the residents,” Kirchmeier said. “These fears are real.”
Aztec dancers – photo by C.S. Hagen
Laney said Monday’s protest was anything but peaceful. “While some would like to say this was a protest, this was not a protest – this was a riot. When you have that many people engage in that kind of behavior, inciting others to break the law, cheering others on as they do break the law, refusing to leave when they are asked to leave, that’s not a protest… Today, 27 arrests were made – not because we wanted that to happen, because those people on scene chose for that to happen.”
Recently, local residents have become the victims of terrorizing threats, intimidation, and criminal trespass, Kirchmeier said. Even Morton County’s new residents, those encamped outside of Cannon Ball, were victims recently when Bryce Ironhawk, from South Dakota, allegedly ploughed into Big Camp in a stolen Chevy Camaro late on October 6, knocking over flagpoles and partially destroying a tipi, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. Ironhawk’s blood-alcohol level was more than double the legal limit, and he was charged with driving under the influence and aggravated reckless driving.
Camp spokespeople said Ironhawk was not an activist living in the camp. Posted at Big Camp’s entrance are the rules: no weapons, no drugs, no alcohol.
“How many days are going to go by before someone gets hurt?” Dewey said. Native Americans and activists are targeted by police on the roads; law enforcement without proper identification are driving through camp, acting like predators, taking pictures of children in the makeshift school on camp premises, he said. DAPL security are dressing like activists and infiltrating the camp. “We’re being targeted now, and this is something that is not okay anymore. We are asking for the power of protection and prayer coming from all the four directions.”
Reports have been made to police about strange people and occurrences, including reports made by those attacked by dogs on September 3, Dewey said, but nothing is being done about their reports. “They did not do their job in protecting the people that were bit. I find that’s a violation of their protocols and what they’re supposed to do. They sat at the bottom of that hill.”
On October 4, nearly 20 activists appeared at Morton County Courthouse to plead not guilty at their arraignments. All requested court-appointed attorneys, some of whom met with camp attorney Angela Bibens and others behind closed doors.
Morton County State’s Attorney Brian Grosinger appeared on behalf of the state, and frequently seemed confused during the proceedings, at one point offering District Court Judge Bruce Haskell an apology. Grosinger asked for a higher bond against Mason Redwing, who turned himself in after being charged with reckless endangerment, criminal trespass, and terrorizing law enforcement after he allegedly charged armed law enforcement on horseback on September 28.
If proven guilty Redwing could face five years imprisonment and or a USD 10,000 fine.
Dale “Happi” Americanhorse Jr. walking alone into the Morton County Courthouse – photo by C.S. Hagen
“We’re prosecuting crimes,” Grosinger said after the first round or cases were arraigned. Too early, he said, to say if the state will be seeking maximum penalties against the dozens of activists arrested.
Americanhorse, who was represented by Steven Balaban, a Bismarck attorney, will begin court proceedings on December 23. He is charged with one felony and three misdemeanors stemming from August 31.
“We as water protectors are not intimidated by the trumped up charges they throw at us,” Americanhorse said. “We are not backing down and will continue to do exactly what we do. Protect.”
“The state is using excessive force normally used in war overseas on unarmed Indigenous People to protect DAPL,” a Red Warrior Camp press release reported. “This is tantamount to an act of war on the Indigenous People…”
To Be or Not To Be – a Governor
Dalrymple is currently serving his final term as the governor of North Dakota. Three men are vying to take his place.
Representative Marvin E. Nelson, D-N.D., from Rolla, said he fears the Dakota Access controversy will end in violence.
Representative Marvin E. Nelson – online sources
“First of all, clearly the process did not work properly at the state level,” Nelson said. “I would point to what happened that the pipeline did not get sited in the right place. As governor, we have a company engaged in legal activity and it’s trying to move ahead, and then there are protestors. It would be my responsibility to protect them… that is the thing as governor – you have to do what you are responsible to do.
“Everyone wants to roll the clock back… but you can’t always go back.”
Nelson expects DAPL is preparing for a quick build to Lake Oahe, protected by beefed-up police presence. The situation has become polarized between absolute support and absolute opposition. “I look too at the protestors and what they’re saying, and I really do fear that there will be violence here. It’s just frustrating. It’s what happens with ultimate positions.”
The governor is more of a spectator, charged with protecting human life, and outside of offering pardons to activists and DAPL workers charged with crimes, the governor has little authority in these situations.
“The company is going to shove it through there,” Nelson said. “The big question is whether the government will allow an easement. It is still possible the tribe will win. Their strongest case is on their water rights. It’s involving their water – and it doesn’t seem there was an engagement with the tribes pertaining to their water rights.”
Nelson added that the U.S. Corps of Engineers rarely investigates beyond river crossings, and that national building permits are not adequate; a full environmental impact study should be conducted.
“Really, the relationship between our tribes and our state could become better and more active,” Nelson said. “We do need to work together more.”
Marty Riske, the Libertarian candidate for North Dakota governor, said it is a very dangerous time for North Dakota.
Marty Riske – online sources
“I know what I would have done, hindsight being twenty-twenty,” Riske said. “I would have brought a table to the site and invited the chiefs of the Native American tribes, the chiefs of the oil companies, and the governor himself. I would have been down there at a long table and a decision tree, and each of us would have espoused what we want, and the things that remained in the tree, the differences that weren’t being met, would have to be brought closer together to get everyone to agree.”
Now that the controversy is polarized, however, and low commodity prices are threatening North Dakotan prosperity, pension funds for teachers and state employees are sliding into arrears due to slipping oil prices, a pipeline is what the state needs, Riske said. Used correctly shipping oil via pipelines is half the cost of transportation by rail or truck. Energy Transfer Partners also has obtained the proper authority to complete the pipeline, the Public Service Commission did their work correctly, Riske said, but President Obama came up from behind and threw the project into chaos.
“If I were governor, I would say, ‘Obama, we are removing all our law enforcement by this date and we ask you to replace them all, or take over the bills, and then you work this deal out. Come here and get this deal done.’”
Oil and natural gas are necessities for North Dakota, and for the nation, Riske said, and although he plans to begin using solar panels on his own property, the technology for alternative energy is not ready to take over the fossil fuel industry.
“I know damn well you don’t want oil to go away,” Riske said. “This notion that we can end fossil fuels is uniformed.”
North Dakota has to get Bakken oil to market, or North Dakota will “suffer greatly,” Riske said.
“By doing what we’re doing, we’re putting the shivers into the whole pipeline program in North Dakota.”
Doug Burgum
Doug Burgum, the Republican candidate for governor of North Dakota, said free speech and the right to protest need to be respected, but that law and order must be maintained on federal lands.
“One of things that makes our country so special is the right of free speech and the right to peacefully protest,” Burgum said. “The state should continue to request that the federal government uphold their responsibility for maintaining peace and order on federal land. Going forward, we need to remember that disagreement can exist alongside mutual respect, listening, and dialogue as we work together towards a peaceful, constructive resolution.”
The signpost at Standing Rock Camp – photo by C.S. Hagen
By C.S. Hagen CANNON BALL, ND – Movie star Shailene Woodley was arrested by Morton County Sheriff’s deputies Monday, Indigenous People’s Day, during an action against Dakota Access Pipeline.
One day after the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. gave Dakota Access LLC the green light to speed the pipeline into a 20-mile no work zone leading up to Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, hundreds gathered to pray and dance, effectively shutting down pipeline activity. For weeks, Dakota Access LLP, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, was ordered to halt all work on the pipeline within 20 miles on either side of Lake Oahe along the Missouri River.
Despite the court ruling, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refused to give its permission for Dakota Access Pipeline to build on Corps lands bordering or under Lake Oahe, and once again recommended that DAPL “voluntarily pause all construction activity” on private lands, according to a press release made available by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Morton County law enforcement grabbed the Divergent series actress’s jacket as she was walking with her mother toward their vehicle to return to Big Camp, and arrested her for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor, which if found guilty could warrant one year in prison and or USD 2,000 in fines. Woodley asked officers why she was singled out for arrest.
“You were identified,” the arresting officer said.
Shailene Woodley being arrested on Monday, October 10, 2016 – online sources
“Alright, I’m being arrested.” Woodley smiled into the camera. Her mother filmed as the officer shackled her daughter’s wrists. More than 40,000 viewers across the world watched as she filmed on live to her Facebook page.
“So everybody knows, we were going to our vehicle, which they had all surrounded, and were waiting for me with giant guns and giant truck behind them, just so they could arrest me.” Woodley said. Law enforcement then led her away in handcuffs.
Before her arrest, Woodley, an environmental activist, moved to an area she thought safe, saying that she did not want to be arrested. This was not her first trip to North Dakota to assist Standing Rock and thousands of Native Americans and other activists against Dakota Access Pipeline. In August, Woodley traveled to the Standing Rock encampment and to Bismarck.
Woodley posted a USD 500 bond, and could face up to three months in prison and USD 3,000 in fines, according to Morton County Sheriff Department spokesman Rob Keller. Her court date is set for October 24. A total of 27 people were arrested Monday after approximately 300 people protested at two construction sites along the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“All 27 were arrested on the same charges, engaging in a riot and criminal trespass,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, who currently serves as Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier’s operations chief in Morton County, said. “She [Woodley] was one of 27, she was no different than the others.” Laney said he hopes the activists return home now that their message has been heard across America and the U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Standing Rock’s petition for a second time.
Activists from around the world verses law enforcement from Morton County, Wisconsin, and cities across North Dakota – online sources
Dakota Access Pipeline, or DAPL, private security personnel were mysteriously gone along the pipeline on Monday, the day formerly celebrated as Columbus Day. “It’s now police policing the pipeline, and they’re there, everywhere, all along the pipeline,” Myron Dewey, a filmmaker and drone operator, said.
Law enforcement have arrested 123 protestors since early August, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Some of those arrested include: Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II, Red Warriors Camp media spokesperson Cody Hall, citizen journalists, and charges were filed against third-party candidate Jill Stein, her running mate Ajamu Baraka, and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman.
Late last week North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple authorized Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier to reach out to the National Sheriff’s Association for assistance. Kirchmeier believes the collaboration is a win, and 40 deputies from Wisconsin began taking 21-day shifts to assist Morton County law enforcement. He also plans to engage in a more proactive stance against anyone who breaks the law. So far, the North Dakota National Guard is still acting in a limited capacity, primarily working the roadblock on Highway 1806.
“We have basically tapped the resources to a level that we’ve never seen here in North Dakota for one particular incident,” Kirchmeier said in a press conference.
“This is where the tax dollars are going,” Dewey said. “You’re seeing militarization of a police force that is not trained in militarization. That’s today.
“It’s really sad. It’s women and children, they’re Native Americans, and people from all over the world.” Much of the assistance is coming from Bismarck in the form of winter clothing, food, materials for shelters, Dewey said, but those who are helping are afraid to give their names for fear of repercussions when they return home.
The fourth story in the continuing fight spearheaded by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against Big Oil to save water and sacred indigenous lands in North Dakota
By C.S. Hagen FARGO, ND – The true power behind the Dakota Access Pipeline extends beyond the private sector and into state leadership. This gray eminence – or power behind the proverbial throne – rivals the story books both ancient and modern, truth and fiction.
Such as China’s Empress Dowager Cixi who was the iron will behind Qing Dynasty’s last emperor, Puyi, or Dick Cheney, dubbed the “intellectual godfather” of President George W. Bush’s administration. In North Dakota, politicians have been bought, unilaterally across the state by big oil and gas lobbyists, according to statesmen and analysts. Some have invested heavily into Bakken oil interests declaring profits for the good of North Dakota’s infrastructure.
“We are where we are… and having difficulties today because only one side has been able to really participate in the decision making in North Dakota that’s totally dominated by the oil industry,” Don Morrison, executive director of the Dakota Resource Council, said. “So what’s happened is our elected officials – every single one of them – is supported by the oil industry.”
The USD 3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline project has drawn thousands of activists together to an encampment outside of Cannon Ball, ND, in what is known as the largest gathering of Native Americans in 140 years, since the Battle of the Greasy Grass, where Colonel George Armstrong Custer made his infamous “last stand.”
It isn’t the first time North Dakota has leapt into the oil race, with the best intentions, but the state is now blindly following big oil’s agenda and supporting it with every law possible, Chase Iron Eyes, a lawyer and the Democratic challenger for the US House or Representatives for North Dakota, said. Iron Eyes has no support from the oil and gas sector in his 2016 race against Congressman Kevin Cramer R-N.D.
“It is a conflict of interest,” Iron Eyes said. “As a lawyer, I would get in trouble for that. In this case the client is the people of North Dakota, and it is obvious what has happened in the last 10 years. Our politicians do not do what is best for the people.”
Ten years ago, most people in North Dakota supported responsible growth in the Bakken Formation. Today, however, an unhealthy environment of either you are either for oil, or against oil, with no room in-between, has emerged, Morrison said.
“The power of the oil industry in so many ways sets the agenda of North Dakota. It’s what they do,” Morrison said. “They dominate. They’ don’t listen to anyone else’s opinion. Why? Because North Dakota elected officials have decided that’s the future of North Dakota, and that they don’t want to fight the oil industry.
“Every time questions are raised about this, people are accused that they want the oil industry to go away. And it’s been designed by the politicians to do the bidding of the oil industry.”
Iron Eyes wants responsible growth in the state, but on North Dakota’s terms. As a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, founder of the Last Real Indians website, and an activist who challenged white supremacists’ attempt to take over the town of Leith, North Dakota in 2013, Iron Eyes said today’s oil conundrum is the fallout from politically-motivated personal interests and big oil pressure from behind the scenes.
Chase Iron Eyes marching with activists at NDSU – photo by C.S. Hagen
On Friday, Iron Eyes arrived in Fargo to march with advocates of Standing Rock at North Dakota State University. Approximately 40 students and supporters attended the march. Prayers were said. Every participant was smudged with sweetgrass. Before marching, Iron Eyes recalled the day in 2010 when he saw – for the first time – big oil lobbyists in Bismarck’s YMCA.
“I thought, oh no, big oil is moving in,” Iron Eyes said. “I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but now I know it was the conglomerate that began pulling our state in this direction. I’m running for Congress out of necessity. I take a look around and I see that our government is broken, and I feel responsible to do my part to try and fix this on behalf of North Dakota.”
The Dakota Access Pipeline will also have a negative effect on the railway and trucking industries, Iron Eyes said. Iron Eyes has received numerous emails from labor unions and shipping industries asking him questions. “I don’t know how deep the rabbit hole goes, but it’s all about who gets the money, who gets the authority to transport.”
Not everyone believes big oil’s agenda is pulling North Dakota’s strings, rather that state and big oil interests are aligned. Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary said that although the possibility of conflicts of interests exists, he doesn’t believe it to be true among North Dakota’s current politicians.
“I think it is par for the course across the board,” Seminary said. “I don’t think that’s a conflict of interest. It always bothers me when people go there. I would never ever, ever question whatever motive they have for making investments. They’re trying to get a return. For the better part of eight years that was one of the best places to get money if you wanted a return.”
Recently, the “Commission,” or North Dakota Industrial Commission, Oil and Gas Division, a government agency established in 1919 to manage certain utilities, currently comprised of Governor Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, and Agricultural Commissioner Doug Goehring, pushed big oil agenda by attempting to ban the public sector from testifying, or having any input at Commission meetings. Only “interested parties,” which would have included project owners and landowners would have been allowed to testify, if the suggestion had been ratified.
Open processes are difficult, Senator Erin Oban said at the April 11, 2016 hearing about new rules for state oil regulation, but they are necessary.
“It would have been easier, I suppose, to limit that process and to only allow a select few to testify,” Oban said. “But my job as a public servant is not to make things easier for me, it’s to make it open and accessible to the public.”
President of the labor advocacy group North Dakota AFL-CIO, Waylon Hedegaard, attended the same meeting, and said big oil has cozied up to North Dakota politicians, effecting legislation, and twisting policy to their collective wills.
“I believe everything we do has to be done to the best of our abilities,” Hedegaard said. “Our government has to regulate to the highest degree, achieve the highest quality, we have to hire the most skilled craftsmen, the most skilled people, and our government has not regulated the oil field nearly to the extent it should have.”
The lack or regulation concerning oil drilling, fracking, waste disposal, and crude transportation has created the perception that all construction in the Bakken region is about bad players putting poor pipes into the ground, Hedegaard said. Hedegaard also asked the Commission to strike the amendment from the proposed rules.
“The essence of democracy is that everyone who thinks they are a stakeholder in something comes together vocally, or gets their opinion out there, and then argues over it and we come to a compromise,” Hedegaard said. “It is not democracy when there’s another group of people limiting who has interest in a certain thing. Democracy is a messy thing.”
Activists on the Missouri River near Cannon Ball, ND – photo by C.S. Hagen
Rocks, according to retired correctional officer Eric Thompson, are the only disinterested party to big oil interests.
“If a party drinks water, oil and gas developers could take a minute to make them an interested party,” Thompson said at the hearing. “If a party breathes air, oil and gas developers could take a minute because air is a requirement for life.”
During recent legislative processes, oil companies have frequently opposed changes, and continue to do so stating the “crackdown” is too expensive and that the timing is bad – oil price decline has caused steep inactivity in drilling in North Dakota. No oil companies stepped forward to oppose the “interested party” amendment, according to Commission records.
North Dakota, the second-biggest oil producing state in the USA, and among the ten largest oil patches in the world, has historically been lackadaisical about instating stricter regulations. A spirit of leniency toward oil companies has been fostered in North Dakota, analysts said. Criticism over lowering fines for oil and saltwater spills has mounted. In January 2016 the Commission agreed to scrutinize the issues, but behind close doors.
Some of the state’s top politicians are chairmen or members of regulating agencies governing big oil and Native American interests. Additionally, big oil supports the political campaigns for Dalrymple, Senator John Hoeven, Senator Heidi Heitkamp, and Cramer, making their voice, according to some, tainted.
Kevin Cramer
Congressman Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where some of the largest legislative battles regarding oil regulation are started. Cramer is also a member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Energy and Commerce), and a member of the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy, and has served on the North Dakota Indian Affairs Committee. Cramer’s largest campaign contributor is the oil and gas sector with a total of USD 138,500, Xcel Energy contributed USD 12,000, and Tesoro Corp. contributed USD 11,000.
John Hoeven
Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D., is on the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and also a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Hoeven is a member of the Subcommittee on Energy, the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining, and the Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy. Hoeven’s largest campaign contributor is the oil and gas sector with a total of USD 327,963, including Continental Resources, Inc. and its CEO, Harold Hamm, who collectively donated USD 18,200. ExxonMobil contributed USD 10,000, and Whiting Petroleum Corporation contributed USD 2,750. Energy Transfer Partners donated USD 5,000 to Hoeven’s 2016 campaign. Hoeven has invested in 68 different oil-producing wells in North Dakota listed under the 2012-company Mainstream Investors, LLC, according to the United States Senate financial disclosure form.
Jack Dalrymple
Governor Jack Dalrymple, R-N.D., a long-time advocate of oil interests, chairman of the Commission, and is also the chairman of the Commission and the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission. The top supporter for Dalrymple’s most recent campaign is the oil and gas sector with USD 467,290 in donations, and Hamm personally donated USD 20,000, while Hess Corporation’s CEO John Hess gave USD 25,000. Dalrymple has stated he will not run for a second term.
Heidi Heitkamp
Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, and a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The tenth-ranking supporter for Heitkamp’s campaign is the energy and natural resource sector, according to Vote Smart, and the oil and gas sector is the third largest contributor to Heitkamp’s 2016 campaign with a total of USD 258,379, according to Open Secrets. Hess Corp donated USD 19,600, BP contributed USD 17,750, Continental Resources, Inc. donated USD 17,500, American Petroleum Institute donated USD 13,250, and Xcel Energy donated USD 13,000.
Chase Iron Eyes
Chase Iron Eyes, D-N.D. has raised USD 82,127 in 2016, running as the challenger for District 1 as a Democrat. Iron Eyes has no support from oil and gas or energy and natural resources sectors, and his largest contributing sector is casinos and gambling. Ho-Chunk Nation is top supporter with a donation of USD 5,400.
Kelcy Warren
Kelcy Warren, the main force behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, founder of Energy Transfer Partners, is worth USD 7.3 billion, according to Bloomberg, Dakota Access Pipeline quietly purchased 6,000 acres last week of private ranch land near to Camp of the Sacred Stone – the historic Cannon Ball Ranch, which begs questions on how the purchase was made possible. Energy Transfer Partners donated USD 304,200 in 2016 and USD 581,300 in 2014 to political campaigns.
Harold Hamm
Harold Hamm, Bakken fracking mogul, and Continental Resources, Inc. CEO, long time financial supporter of North Dakota’s politicians, and worth approximately USD 13.8 billion, according to Forbes. Hamm is currently the campaign energy advisor to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and is a candidate for energy secretary of the United States if Trump is elected in 2016.
Top national recipients of support from Continental Resources, Inc. 2016
3rd Place: Heidi Heitkamp – USD 11,300
4th Place: Donald Trump – USD 10,928
5th Place: John Hoeven – USD 10,200
14th Place: Kevin Cramer – USD 5,000
In 2014, Continental Resources donated USD 6,200 to Heidi Heitkamp, and USD 3,500 to Kevin Cramer
Top national recipients of support from Hess Corp. 2016
2nd Place: John Hoeven – USD 20,800
8th Place: Kevin Cramer – USD 10,000
19th Place: Heidi Heitkamp – USD 3,500
In 2014, Hess Corp donated USD 15,600 to Heidi Heitkamp and USD 2,600 to Kevin Cramer
Top national recipients of support from BP 2016
5th Place: Heidi Heitkamp – USD 15,700
100th Place: John Hoeven – USD 1,000
In 2014, BP donated USD 2,000 to both Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven
Top national recipients of support from Energy Transfer Partners 2016
6th Place: John Hoeven – USD 5,000
In 2014, Energy Transfer Partners donated USD 1,500 to both Kevin Cramer and Heidi Heitkamp
– financial statements made available by Vote Smart and OpenSecrets Center for Responsive Politics – statistics do not reflect Dark Money groups, or educational or membership building donations.
Every day, 1,027,131 barrels of oil are produced in North Dakota, and a total of 1,662,917 thousand cubic feet of natural gasses are produced from 13,248 wells, according to the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Mineral Resources.
Since January 2016, more than 100,900 gallons of crude oil, waste oil, bio solids, natural gas, and brine were spilled in North Dakota and surrounding areas, according to the North Dakota Department of Health records. Approximately 50,000 gallons of slaked lime solids slid into the Missouri River in June causing unknown impacts, according to the North Dakota Department of Health.
Few companies involved in the spills have been fined. In January, the Commission reviewed six outstanding spill cases with fines totaling USD 600,000, according to the Bismarck Tribune. Additionally, past spills are still being cleaned up around the state, such as the Tesoro Corp. spill of 2013, the XTO Energy, and the Oasis Petroleum Inc. spills of 2014 and 2015, according to Bill Suess, Spill Investigation Program manager of North Dakota Department of Health.
Spills occur on a daily basis, Suess said, the cleanup is costly, and companies are rarely fined.
“Not every one gets fined,” Suess said. “Usually we hold off as long as we can on the fines because it is a motivator to get them cleaning it up.”
The North Dakota Industrial Commission’s policy on levying fines for damaging spills is unclear, and is usually negotiated then settled for a fraction of the initial fine. In 2015 and 2016 the Commission proposed a total of USD 4,525,000 in penalties, collecting USD 125,976, and suspending for one year a total of USD 461,250. No violations were reportedly committed, according to the Commission.
“Although generally reported otherwise, fines are never forgiven,” the Commission’s Public Information Officer Alison Ritter said. Every fine is a legal process, and if a company contests a fine the case will be taken to court. “Fines are suspended for a period of time, usually a year, to encourage changed behavior from a company.”
Wild West: Cowboys vs. Indians
Racism against Native Americans in North Dakota, is prevalent across the state. Nearly every activist who stands to speak in Big Camp’s Sacred Circle mentions racism, oppression, and genocide, in one form or another.
North Dakota State Highway Patrol logo
From the logo emblazoned on State Highway Patrol vehicles – Sitting Bull’s killer Marcellus Red Tomahawk – who was from Cannon Ball area, to whistleblowers in 2012 condemning federal and state authorities of allowing native children to be placed in homes with sexual predators, to the recent use of attack dogs against activists, to blatant disregard and ignorance for native cultures, to big companies armed with eminent domain laws whose only concern is profit, to North Dakota politicians, namely Cramer during a 2013 meeting with Abused Women Services, who verbally attacked and threatened Native Americans.
The list goes on. The State Highway Patrol’s emblem is a constant reminder of oppression, many activists said. From the beginning of the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not include Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in meaningful discussions, the lawsuit filed by Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stated. Native archeologists have been ignored, activists said. Petitions for consultation as a sovereign nation went unanswered, according to court documents. Morton County law enforcement is working under standard operating procedures, without regard to native practices or culture, officials said. And now, Dakota Access Pipeline quietly purchased 6,000 acres of private ranch land near to Camp of the Sacred Stone – the historic Cannon Ball Ranch. A blow to Standing Rock Sioux some say is below the belt.
Buffalo drinking from pond near Cannon Ball Ranch – photo by C.S. Hagen
Twenty parcels of the Cannon Ball Ranch, established 1883 and inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1999, was sold to Dakota Access Pipeline by David and Kathy Meyer on September 22, for an undisclosed sum. The area lies west of Highway 1806 where the Standing Rock Sioux claim burial grounds and other sacred sites were disturbed on September 3, the day of the attack dogs and pepper spray that injured at least eight people, according to camp attorney Angela Bibens.
“The signs are there, as far as the fear politics,” Iron Eyes said. “Just being unwilling to back down from that posture. It revives the old prejudices that exist, that we’re trying to evolve from. We’ve been living side by side for 120 years, and now it gives the Indian the reason they need to demonize white people. The white people are at our door again, and trying to make us beg again. They’re trying to turn us into beggars.”
One other questionable fact raised Seminary’s eyebrows when he first heard news the pipeline’s route was moved from north of Bismarck’s water wells to its current location, a spear’s throw from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation land. He knew trouble was coming.
“And here is the first thing I said to myself, ‘Really. Really? You were concerned about Bismarck’s water source? You just made your job a lot harder.’ That was my first impression, and that probably didn’t win me any supporters on the deal.”
“It feels a lot like racism,” Iron Eyes said. “We’re all evolving from some form of say, I don’t want to use this word, oppression, but that is what it is.”
Seminary agreed with Iron Eyes that systemic racism is a contributing factor to today’s controversy over the Dakota Access Pipeline. This racism, dating back hundreds of years, emboldens the “wasi’chu,” or the white man to exclude natives in important talks with a historically ‘take what we want’ mentality. Ignorance on how to approach tribes like the Standing Rock Sioux as sovereign nations under binding treaties with the United States government, has been in play since the planning stages of Dakota Access Pipeline, activists and legal documents stated.
“But nobody talks about that stuff in North Dakota,” Iron Eyes said. “The governor created the emergency, he declared it, and he called in the National Guard, and now he is crawling to Obama, asking him to foot the bill for this emergency.
“There is no emergency to speak of that merits his kind of response.”
“We have some racial tension in this,” Seminary said. “We have some racial tension in the country. For whatever reason it is worse now than it has been for some time. I don’t care what someone looks like, I don’t care about ethnicity, we are all on God’s planet and we’re supposed to do as much as we can for each other while we are here.”
Looking back, Iron Eyes wondered if the entire Dakota Access Pipeline situation couldn’t have gone much differently if only all parties involved sat down to discuss with mutual respect. In the words of Sioux chief and holy man Sitting Bull, “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.”
Seminary wants to help open dialogue between all parties, and traveled to Cannon Ball area to discuss racism problems last weekend.
“It just seems like we have let the civility escape the discussion. If in fact, we’re dealing with a sovereign nation, which we are, I don’t know that this standard operating procedure for how the state or its agency conducts business, is necessarily what you want to hang your hat on.
“It is a sovereign nation. Maybe, just maybe another step should have been added to the process,” Seminary said.
Activists singing alongside the Missouri River near Cannon Ball, ND – photo by C.S. Hagen
No Light at Pipeline’s End
On the day Dalrymple declared a state of emergency, Iron Eyes approached the governor, petitioning for an opportunity to gather all interested parties to talk about rerouting the pipeline.
“They’re not interested in anything other than what they announced as their plan, and they’re unwilling to back down from that posture,” Iron Eyes said. “Everyone is doubling down.”
From the governor, to Morton County law enforcement, to Dakota Access LLC, no one appears willing to consult with the Standing Rock Sioux and come to a compromise.
“As non partisan leaders, we are not against progress,” Iron Eyes said. The smear campaign coming from North Dakota’s extreme right, coupled with Dakota Access LLC’s refusal to discuss the issues, threatens any kind of peace.
Energy Transfer Partners’ response came in the form of an in-house memo from its CEO, Warren, who vowed to his employees to complete the 1,172-mile pipeline on time. The pipeline, if built, will “safely move American oil to American markets,” Warren stated. “It will reduce our dependence on oil from unstable regions of the world and drive down the cost of petroleum products for American industry and consumers.”
“How long can we continue with this economic reality?” Iron Eyes said. “We can continue it a lot longer if we are smart about this. We have a shelf life, we are at a tipping point as a global consumer and we have to figure out how to survive this. We can’t treat the earth as if fresh water will always be available. As if deforestation and climate change aren’t real issues. Right now it doesn’t seem to be happening, but this thing changes every day. There are going to be pipelines built here, we’re slow to evolve, so let’s do it in a way that’s smart for our state, and our people. We can do that if we avoid the Missouri River.”
If a reroute is not on the table, then there will be no “lawful resolution,” Iron Eyes said. Civil disobedience will continue.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday 200 activists marched on to a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site off of Highway 6, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Thirty private security personnel at the scene, most left by the time protesters arrived. Three remained behind, and one security personnel was assaulted, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
“When law enforcement arrived, they witnessed protesters carrying the security guard for approximately 100 yards,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said. “The guard was treated for minor injuries.”
Activists departed once law enforcement arrived, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department, but officers reported seeing knives and one activist with a pistol. On Tuesday, five more activists were arrested near St. Anthony along Highway 6, according to sheriff’s department spokesmen, and on Wednesday, 21 more protesters were arrested by officers assigned to the Dakota Access Pipeline, raising the total amount of people arrested to 95. Law enforcement brandished automatic weapons, shotguns, and drove up in an armored riot-control vehicle with sound cannons, amidst activists chanting “We have no weapons.” More arrests are pending after deputies review video and photographs taken at the scene.
“Our officers are trained to respond to the threats they perceive and to take appropriate action,” Kirchmeier said. “A charging horse combined with totality of the situation presented an imminent threat to the officer.”
“It’s a real pickle,” Seminary said. “I’m not qualified to give anything other than my opinion. Whatever the decision is I pray it is a peaceful result. I think there are some real significant decisions ahead. It’s just such a mess right now. I don’t know how, but we’ve got to go back to the drawing board.”
Activists take over Dakota Access Pipeline work area – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Morton County Sheriff’s Department Kyle Kirchmeier vs. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II
By C.S. Hagen
MANDAN, ND – Two North Dakotan chiefs are pitted, one against the other.
One chief, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, has laws, politicians, the North Dakota National Guard, taxpayers’ money, and a third chief from the private sector, Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, with all the powers money can buy, on his side.
The other, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II, uses prayer, donations, federal treaties, and thousands of volunteers from native tribes and concerned citizens across the world to fight the pipeline’s continuation.
One chief uses the law’s full force: police in riot gear, automatic weapons, handcuffs, and calls the Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrations, which have continued in earnest and unabated since early August, dangerous. The other chief calls for prayer, civil disobedience, smokes a ceremonial peace pipe, and calls his people, including those from nearly 300 different tribes, water protectors.
One chief lives in Mandan, making USD 78,000 a year; the other sometimes resides in a canvas tipi on land that once belonged to the Great Sioux Nation.
One chief arrested the other. In fact, Archambault was among the first activists to be arrested on August 12, 2016, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. But to Archambault, the fight against Dakota Access Pipeline is just.
“Our tribe has opposed the Dakota Access pipeline since we first learned about it in 2014,” Archambault said in a press conference. “I believe this movement is organic, and has a life on its own. It is not about race, not about hate. It’s about unity.”
For 500 years, Archambault said, Native Americans have suffered from defeat, prejudice, and broken treaties. One day, the pipeline will not only poison the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, but the millions who depend on the Missouri River for water – human, fauna, and flora.
“And yet we’re the ones who continue to pay the costs,” Archambault said.
Buffalo drinking from pond near the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline – photo by C.S. Hagen
The costs including but not limited to the pipeline tearing up native burial sites, poisoning land and waters on its journey south toward Nederland, Texas, in the same state where the third chief resides in 23,000-square-foot-home on 10 acres of land. The real costs to the personal freedoms of at least 69 activists arrested, some of whom are banned from returning to protest areas. Misdemeanor offenses of trespassing are now becoming felony charges of criminal mischief, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Some of those arrested, activists said, are being stalled, and temporarily denied their rights to counsel.
“The biggest concern that we had about those situations, was holding someone on a no-bond hold for three days on a misdemeanor, that seems irrational,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe camp attorney Angela Bibens said. “The situation is that people are being targeted, people’s relatives are being targeted. Are people’s rights being violated? There is definitely a case for that.”
Sara Long, a citizen journalist, was arrested for trespassing on Sunday. She had her phone confiscated, was abused verbally, and law enforcement threatened to have her phone unlocked with software, Bibens said.
“You have to have a warrant to get into someone’s phone,” Bibens said. “That is a clear case of someone’s rights being violated. All charges against Long were eventually dropped, and Long did receive her cellular phone back, Bibens said.
“People are being arrested indiscriminately. They are trying to target leadership, trying to determine who is in charge. There is a certain amount of panic that is detectable within law enforcement. They’re not accustomed to what they’re seeing, a large, peaceful group of Native Americans – everybody’s here in Standing Rock.”
Bibens was denied one-on-one access to activists in the county jail, she said, and has to speak to them through glass and by telephones, which may be recorded, she said. Licensed to practice in Colorado, and currently with the National Lawyers Guild, it is legal for out-of-state attorneys to be denied the right to practice in another state, but the current situation with 69 arrests is overwhelming, not only for her, but for Morton County.
Some are being appointed court attorneys, and she is attempting to recruit local lawyers to step in.
Additionally, activists have reported seeing military research and surveillance drones, claiming the drones have blocked reception to the Standing Rock camp areas, and that Facebook is blocking some activists’ videos and statements. Bibens is monitoring the claims, she said.
Not long after the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s petition for an injunction against Dakota Access failed, President Obama’s Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a statement recommending Dakota Access LLC was no longer authorized to work on the U.S. Corps of Engineers’ lands. On Friday, the Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals officially backed the President’s recommendation, halting all work on the Dakota Access Pipeline within 20 miles on either side of Lake Oahe along the Missouri River. The news was joyous to some, considered an annoyance to others. With a legal score of one-to-one for both chiefs, some expected the tension – like a ticking time bomb – would be defused.
Instead, tensions grew.
Law enforcement began arresting activists, native spokespeople, and media personnel, by the busloads. Misdemeanor criminal trespass charges have been filed against Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Red Warrior spokesman Cody Hall, at least two other journalists, and third-party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein, as well as her running mate, Ajamu Baraka.
Dale “Happi” Americanhorse Jr. while chained to a Dakota Access excavator – online sources
“The Morton County State’s Attorney’s office will pursue felony charges against the protestors who attached themselves to equipment due to the seriousness of the crime,” Kirchmeier said. “The Dakota Access Pipeline has shown good faith in the legal process by removing their equipment from their worksites… But rather than respect this, a small element of the protest group has decided to go and find DAPL equipment and sites wherever they are and interrupt their work that the pipeline has legal right to conduct.”
“This is an unacceptable violation of freedom of the press,” Goodman said in a statement. “I was doing my job by covering pipeline guards unleashing dogs and pepper spray on Native American protestors.”
Long, who is a resident of Cannon Ball, said on her Facebook page that she was incarcerated for 28 hours and charged with criminal trespass.
“They are trying to silence us, again and again, by violating our rights,” Long said on her Facebook page.
“It was not known at the time that Ms. Goodman was a media representative,” Kirchmeier said. “Part of the investigation process is to review all evidence. This included video taken from the protest site. Persons identified on the video were arrested.”
All activists arrested, excluding one female prisoner who had an outstanding warrant from Nebraska, have been released on bail, Kirchmeier reported. Olowan Sara Martinez was charged with criminal trespass on a Dakota Access Pipeline worksite, and has outstanding warrants of terroristic threats, a class-4 felony, among other misdemeanor charges from Nebraska. Nebraska officials have 10 days to take custody of Martinez, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Kirchmeier denied any accusations that the department was targeting media personnel, spokespeople, or medics.
“There are numerous outside groups, some invited and some not,” Kirchmeier said. “They are participating and are suspected to be causing issues. While they may have come in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, they are also pushing their own agenda.”
North Dakota National Guard blockading Highway 1806 – photo by Annie Gao
Many activists feel local and state law enforcement, and now the North Dakota National Guard, are acting as the protectors of big oil interests. While native interests rarely make national or international headlines, and their opinions on matters are rarely heard, these ingredients add to the distrust shared by nearly all Native Americans toward the federal and local governments, activists said. Throw in a pinch of big oil campaign funding for North Dakota politicians, a little private investing, and the final result resembles an agenda the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its supporters are not comfortable with.
The third chief, Warren, vowed to his employees to complete the 1,172-mile pipeline on time. The pipeline, if built, will “safely move American oil to American markets,” Warren stated in an internal memo to Energy Transfer employees. “It will reduce our dependence on oil from unstable regions of the world and drive down the cost of petroleum products for American industry and consumers.”
DAPL excavation equipment and “scar” or trench made for the pipeline – photo by C.S. Hagen
An interesting and profitable venture, analysts say, especially in light of the fact that Congress agreed to lift the nation’s 40-year-old ban on oil exports in 2015. Fourth quarter 2015 the United States exported 4.8 million barrels per day to 136 countries, including Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Colombia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“It’s entirely fair to highlight Energy Transfer Partner’s ambitions when it comes to exporting hydrocarbons from North America to the highest bidder, and to tie that to a recent lifting of embargo,” Hugh MacMillan, a senior research for the Food & Water Watch said.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp D-N.D., helped lead the efforts on behalf of oil companies for increased exports of liquefied gas and crude oil, according to Heitkamp’s website. Heitkamp, along with Senator Lisa Murkowski R-AK, wrote the Heitkamp-Murkowski Bipartisan Bill to lift the ban on oil exports in 2015.
Enbridge Inc., an investor of the Dakota Access Pipeline, stated in its 2015 annual report that “We see continued opportunities to expand and extend our pipeline systems to help meet North America’s energy needs and contribute to energy security, as well as build connectivity to coastal markets than enable exports.”
No matter what country Dakota crude from the Bakken region might end up, Warren petitioned employees to contact “elected representatives – all of them – to tell them how important this project is to your livelihood.”
Work on the pipeline is approximately 60 percent complete, Warren stated.
“Our corporate mindset has long been to keep our head down and do our work,” Warren’s memo stated. “We respect the constitutional right of all assembled in North Dakota to voice their opinions for or against projects like ours. However, threats and attacks on our employees, their families and our contractors as well as the destruction of equipment and encroachment on private property must not be tolerated.”
The day of the attack dogs – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Frost Kennels
According to Archambault, activists did not instigate the violence on September 3.
“They provoked everything that happened,” Archambault said in a press conference.
Bob Frost, owner and president of Ohio-based Frost Kennels, said his employees were at the Dakota Access Pipeline site on September 3.
“We went out there to do a job and we did it,” Frost said. Personally, Frost supports the continuation of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and said when activists held a protest in Louisville, Ohio last weekend, he received death threats. Activists also attempted to break into an employee’s home, Frost said. Police arrived and the activists scattered; no one was arrested. Frost also reported that activists were burning Dakota Access Pipeline bridges in the Cannon Ball area, but Morton County Sheriff’s Department stated they received no such reports.
Frost’s company didn’t have time to prepare properly on September 3, and they “were ambushed,” he said. The plan was to use pronged collars and 20-foot leashes, but he decided to go early to the construction site after he received a call from the company who employed Frost Kennels, a company he refused to name.
Upon arrival, Frost found activists tearing down fences, throwing themselves under excavation machinery, and threatening his dogs and employees, Frost said.
“So we just said f*ck it, and got our dogs, and tried to make a bridge between them and the workers. We did not go out to attack people, but they knocked down a fence and entered private property. I tell you what, if someone came on to my own yard, I’d have the right to shoot them, that’s the law.”
As to the angry online reactions to pictures of Frost Kennels dogs with bloodied jaws, Frost said the blood could not have come from human beings.
“Dogs aren’t trained to be social around 20 people, especially with that riot mentality,” Frost said. “But if a dog bites you, the blood is gone within 30 seconds, because they lick their lips and it’s gone.” The blood, Frost said, came from his dogs being struck by activists.
Despite the threats Frost has received, he said he offered activists food last weekend during their protest against his company. “I offered to give them all food, but they didn’t want it,” he said. “And hey, I’m not racist. My wife is 50 percent Native American, my kids are card carrying tribal members, and my best friend is a black guy sitting right here beside me.”
At least eight activists, including a young woman were injured, some with dog bites, and one child suffered a rash after being hit in the face with mace, according to Bibens.
“As far as that picture of that child being bit, I feel bad for whoever it was,” Frost said. “First because any child who is bit I feel for, but also I feel bad for the parents who brought their children there in the first place.”
Morton County Sheriff’s Department has not filed charges against Frost or his employees yet, but initiated a joint task force on Tuesday comprised of the Morton and Mercer County Sheriff’s departments, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to investigate all sides involved. The North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board is also investigating whether Frost Kennels was properly licensed or registered to work in the state.
“It is important we give this incident a thorough examination,” Kirchmeier said. “DAPL private security officers with dogs were at the worksite. Protesters broke through a fence and entered the site… Seven individuals have been identified and charged with criminal trespass for their involvement in the protest that day.
“The investigation could lead to charges on both sides.”
Deputies did not know about the use of dogs until receiving a 911 call from security personnel, Kirchmeier said.
Rumors that G4S, one of the world’s leading security companies headquartered in Great Britain, has been hired to provide security staff to Dakota Access Pipeline, are false, according to the company’s communication director Monica Garcia. Garcia said that no G4S personnel were on site on September 3, and that the company has no K9 units in North Dakota yet, and that G4S has had no engagements with activists involved with the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“The incident that occurred near Cannon Ball, North Dakota on Saturday, September 3rd involved other security providers, not G4S,” Garcia said. “We are not providing services to that entity [Dakota Access Pipeline or Energy Transfer Partners].”
The security company goes by many nicknames such as the “Chaos Company” in an April 2014 article for Vanity Fair, and as “spy for hire” in Tim Shorrock’s 2009 book Spies for Hire. Historically, G4S is hired by companies and governments to enter dangerous situations such as Nigeria, Israel, Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now, according to media outlets around the world, into western North Dakota.
The company and its subsidiaries are allegedly involved in controversies including immigrant-detainee labor in prisons, crimes against humanity in Israel, misconduct in child custodial institutions, police telephone data manipulation, and its employment of terrorist Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in an Orlando gay nightclub in June 2016, according to Reuters.
A Native American horse inside corral at Big Camp – photo by C.S. Hagen
Winter is Coming
Inside the three camps set up outside Cannon Ball, some activists are winterizing. Solar panels are being used to produce electricity. Sturdier, wooden structures are replacing tents. Woodstoves are being prepared for larger tents that will surround Big Camp’s Sacred Circle. Ceremonies last long into the night, and modern bands have also been performing on the weekends.
Direct Action classes at Big Camp – photo by C.S. Hagen
Although the tension on both sides of the Dakota Access Pipeline may be nearing a breaking point, meetings between the two chiefs, Kirchmeier and Archambault, have “been numerous,” according to Kirchmeier. Morale, for both chiefs, and on both sides of the issue, are high. Big Camp, nestled into a gentle curve of the Missouri River, has expanded. Medic tents have doubled. Classes for children, for activist awareness, for wilderness survival are now being taught to anyone wanting to attend. Jewelers are displaying their wares. Long lines orderly wait for free t-shirts with protect water slogans printed on site. Donations in the forms of clothing, meats, eggs, water, are pouring in. Porta potties are kept clean as possible.
Rock star Neil Young produced a new song and video entitled Indian Givers for the Dakota Access Pipeline protest, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
There’s a battle raging on the sacred land, our brothers and sisters have to take a stand, the song starts off.
Young makes reference to “big money” being the “Indian givers” for plowing an oil pipeline through land rightfully belonging to Native Americans, and sings about Dale “Happi” American Horse Jr., the 26-year-old Sicangu-Oglala Lakota activist who was featured in HPR story entitled “Can’t Drink Oil,” on September 15.
Saw Happy locked to the big machine
They had to cut him loose and you know what that means
That’s when Happy went to jail
Behind big money justice always fails
– part of the lyrics for Neil Young’s song Indian Givers
Kirchmeier realizes the issues will not be resolved anytime soon.
“The morale of our law enforcement personnel is good,” Kirchmeier said. “We have tremendous support from law enforcement agencies across North Dakota.”
A total of 595 people from 51 departments and agencies have assisted, Kirchmeier said. Thirteen counties in North Dakota have provided 144 officers, 11 cities in North Dakota have provided 130 officers, and another 127 officers have been recruited locally.
Medic tent outside of Red Warriors Camp – photo by C.S. Hagen
“Tribal leaders have indicated to law enforcement they want a peaceful protest,” Kirchmeier said. “However, not all protesters have been peaceful. Aggression and actions to incite fear or intimidation are not peaceful activities. Protesters do not have the right to disrupt traffic, close the road, trespass on private property or disrupt other legal activities. They do not have the right to incite fear in the traveling public, local land owners, workers, first responders, or law enforcement.”
Additionally, camps south of the Cannon Ball River will soon be granted a temporary Special Use Permit, which requires a USD 100,000 performance bond, and USD 5,000,000 in insurance, Kirchmeier said. If the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe signs the permit, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will countersign and the permit will be valid for 30 days.
Winter is coming, and all chiefs are preparing. One is doubling down on arrests and following the law. The other chief is also using legal maneuvers, and an indomitable spirit Native Americans have not seen since the Battle of the Greasy Grass, 140 years ago. The third chief, perhaps, is grinding his teeth in frustration at the setbacks.
“We have a connection to Mother Earth,” Archambault said. “And it goes to the center of the earth and goes up to into the universe. We are still here, and the reason why we are here is because of our prayers.
“It is all good.”
Activists from South America posing at Big Camp, near Cannon Ball, ND – photo by C.S. Hagen
The continuing story in the fight spearheaded by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against Big Oil to save water and sacred indigenous lands in North Dakota
By C.S. Hagen BIG CAMP, ND – Centuries before the discovery of oil, a hungry bear lumbered into a forest and began gorging on all the huckleberries it could find, according to ancient Native American legends. The forest animals took notice, and held council, for without huckleberries a vital part of the forest would surely be lost.
After reaching a decision the forest animals timidly approached the bear and warned it to stop before the damage was irreparable; a price had to be paid. The bear needed to give something back for the carnage it created.
“But all I have is my fur and my claws,” the bear said.
“You must give up your eyesight,” the animals said.
The bear agreed, and to this day the tender, versatile fruit has an eye on every berry, and bears have never regained the eyesight they once had.
Told late at night in Big Camp, short hikes from the Camp of the Sacred Stone and Red Warriors Camp outside of Cannon Ball, the legend is the difference between life and death to the largest gathering of Native American tribes in 140 years. Not since the Battle of the Greasy Grass or Custer’s Last Stand, have the Great Sioux Nation’s Seven Council Fires, or the Oceti Sakowin, been united.
Activist wielding a rifle used during the Battle of the Greasy Grass (Custer’s Last Stand). When asked to give up the weapon, the activist did without question. – photo by C.S. Hagen
In addition, more than 200 tribes, 100 social groups and associations, at times exceeding 5,000 people of all nationalities, are not only protecting water, now they’re protecting land. Smaller camps have been established along rural roads; scouts are tirelessly on the lookout for Dakota Access activity.
On September 3, activists say Dakota Access Pipeline orchestrated a “sneak attack” that desecrated two miles of Native American burial grounds. Allegedly, an Ohio-based dog breeding and training company, known by netizens as Frost Kennels, attempted to ward off the protesters – men, women, and children – with mace and trained attack dogs. Mercenaries, activists called them. Altercations ensued, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported, but activists say only after security personnel allegedly pushed attack dogs into the crowds. At least six activists, including a young woman bit on the breast and one child who broke out in a rash after being hit in the face with mace, sought medical help, activists said.
Activists forced security personnel to retreat after the attacks ensued. Frost Kennels admitted their personnel were at the Dakota Access Pipeline area on Facebook.
“They provoked everything that happened,” Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II said. “We are not violent, but when you have companies provoking, it is hard to keep going. It’s time to stop infringing on indigenous rights.”
Law enforcement watched from a nearby hill, activists said.
“They didn’t try to deescalate either side,” Dale “Happi” Americanhorse Jr. said. “What happened on Saturday, it was hateful.”
The day after the altercation, Standing Rock Sioux tribe asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to grant a temporary restraining order against Dakota Access, which was partially granted by U.S. Judge James Boasberg. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on whose land the altercation took place, did not oppose the issuance of the restraining order.
“This is a peace and prayer camp, we’re not here to start World War III,” Greg Cournoyer Jr., a councilman for the Yankton Sioux tribe said. The Yankton Sioux Tribe filed a lawsuit in federal court on September 8, according to Native News. With Cournoyer stood a fifth generation descendant of Colonel George Armstrong Custer, Whitney Custer, who has Cheyenne blood. From Kansas, she could not stay at the camp long as sixth generation Custers waited for her at home.
Whitney Custer, fifth generation descendant of Colonel George Custer – photo by C.S. Hagen
Although 140 years ago the Sioux soundly defeated and killed her cavalier ancestor, Custer felt nothing but acceptance from the Native Americans at Big Camp.
“I have been welcomed with happiness,” Custer said. “They’ve treated me like family, I feel very welcome.”
As soon as she stopped speaking, a mosquito-like buzz filled the air. Everyone looked up and pointed toward a circling drone. Sightings of helicopters and airplanes are commonplace, but activists now face the U.S. military. In preparation for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision on an injunction filed by Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop work along the pipeline, Governor Jack Dalrymple called in the North Dakota National Guard. Boasberg’s long-awaited decision on Friday favored the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the company was legally allowed to continue work.
“It is now clear and obvious the fight needs to be moved from Morton County to a courtroom in Washington, D.C.,” Morton County Commissioner Cody Schulz said.
US Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein spray painting “I approve this message” on Dakota Access equipment – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Near Cannon Ball, however, local and state law enforcement officials have had their hands full, arresting 68 activists since the protests began, and have issued warrants for presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein, and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka.
On Friday, Stein posted on her Twitter account, “Why is an arrest warrant out for me and @ajamubaraka, instead of Big Oil and the state of North Dakota?”
To ease some of law enforcement’s pressures along Highway 1806, on September 8 Dalrymple called in the military to act in a limited capacity, bolstering traffic checks and assisting law enforcement. The road is now open to the public, Archambault said, but the military presence did not disturb nor dismay him.
The day of the attack dogs, activists defending themselves – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“The National Guard is not going to come here to the camps,” Archambault said. “The governor is trying to alleviate some of the pressures on local law enforcement.”
“Our mission is, and in this situation is the right approach, is to have guardsmen in support of law enforcement, and let law enforcement deals with those who break the law,” Major General Alan Dohrmann of the North Dakota National Guard said during a press conference.
Not long after the news of Standing Rock’s failed petition for an injunction against Dakota Access, President Obama’s Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surprised both sides by issuing a statement that they no longer allowed Dakota Access to work on the U.S. Corps of Engineers’ lands, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
“Important issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally, remain. Therefore, the Department of the Army, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior will take the following steps.”
No authorization will be given to Dakota Access on land bordering or under Lake Oahe, a distance of 20 miles in all directions, until determinations can be made whether reconsiderations of previous decisions should be made.
“Construction on the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time.”
Additionally, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has “highlighted the need for a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects.” All tribes were invited for government-to-government consultations this upcoming fall, according to the U.S. Department of Justice news release.
“It is now incumbent on all of us to develop a path forward that serves the broadest public interest,” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stated.
Congressman Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., called the Obama Administration’s move unfair and confusing and that the issue “deserved peaceful resolution that honors rights of lawful commerce,” in his weekly message. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said the move was painful and disappointing, and offered “no light at the end of the tunnel for North Dakotans.”
In response to the alleged dog attacks, the State of North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board has also began investigating complaints made against the private security company involved, its use of attack dogs, and if the company was authorized to work in North Dakota, counsel for the State of North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board Monte Rogneby said.
Fargo City Commissioner John Strand spent the day after the dog attacks at Big Camp, he said, and attended ritual services performed by Native Americans there. He traveled to the area for personal reasons, and in the capacity of a Native American Commissioner, of which he has been a member for nearly three years.
“I think there have been mistakes made on both sides,” Strand said. “And that’s not necessarily surprising. On the state side we’ve done some things that have exacerbated the situation.”
Strand understands the skepticism many Native Americans have toward state and federal governments, he said.
“Don’t live in the past, or we will jaundice our views, but if we do look at the past, we need to look all the way back. Let’s meet each other, eye to eye, every chance we can. Let’s understand each other every chance we can.”
Spending time at the camps was an experience Strand will never forget, and he encouraged anyone interested to travel to Cannon Ball area to learn about what is happening.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II – photo by C.S. Hagen
Colorful tents, horses, vehicles, and people spanned the plains behind Archambault as he addressed media representatives from national news agencies and talk shows. Flags from more than 180 tribes snapped briskly under the prairie wind. Volunteers chopped firewood, manned kitchens. Loudspeakers announced the arrival of a new tribe supporting the cause. Along the Missouri River’s banks, canoes filled with Native Americans from Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, and elsewhere docked.
Thousands, fists raised, cheered.
“There is a spirit awakening,” Archambault said.
The spirits of eagles, which have been seen flying over the camp, or the buffalo, which roam nearby, and even the spirit of thunder bringing rain on September 7, dampening the ground and halting pipeline construction workers, Angela Bibens, the camp volunteer attorney said.
“What they did, is a crime scene,” Bibens said. “Genocidal violence. They knew what they were doing, it was a sneak attack, and this is a profound expression of sovereignty here.”
Activist Joanne Spotted Bear giving a speech – photo by C.S. Hagen
Sovereignty. The legal battles that have gone nearly unnoticed by many for hundreds of years, Archambault said. Too many times federal agencies have violated the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, activist Seven Thunders from Cheyenne River said. The U.S. Constitution article states all treaties made under the authority of the United States are the supreme law of the land, which would include the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 giving indigenous peoples permanent rights to defined territories. The altercation took place on the U.S. Corps of Engineers land, taken from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in the 1940s during dam construction projects.
The “black snake,” as activists call the Dakota Access Pipeline, its Wall Street and government investors, its oil drillers, and pipe layers, have taken too much from the earth, and are not heeding the warnings to give something back, Archambault said.
“Energy Transfer, who has zero human rights policies, made the decision to dig up sacred land,” Achambault said. “But if the judge rules in our favor, it’s ok. If the judge rules in their favor, it’s not the end.” He plans, through the tribe’s law firm Earthjustice, an environmental law organization, to appeal the decision.
Morton Count Sheriff’s Department sees the weeks’ events, including the altercation led by attack dogs, as a serious danger.
“A group of protesters launched a march from their camp located on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land to where construction was taking place on the Dakota Access Pipeline, on private property,” the Morton County Sheriff’s Department stated in a news release. “They stampeded into the construction area with horses, dogs, and vehicles.”
Four security personnel were assaulted; one was take to a Bismarck hospital. Two security K-9s were also treated for injuries.
“This was more like a riot than a protest,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle L. Kirchmeier said in a press release.
“There is a legal analysis that we are squatting,” Bibens said. “But when we are forcibly removed from our lands it’s like cutting off our own umbilical chords.”
“The state is trying to get us to stoop to their level,” Cody Two Bears, a Standing Rock councilman said. “And if we do that, then we are no better than they are.”
Ronald and Eric Day from Washington hailing departing canoes along the Missouri River – photo by C.S. Hagen
Dakota Access LLC has removed equipment from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, officials said, but not far enough away to satisfy activists. On Tuesday morning, approximately 50 law enforcement officers from Morton County Sheriff’s Department, the North Dakota Highway Patrol, and other law enforcement agencies, arrested 22 activists north of I-94 at exit 20 near Mandan, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department press release. Twenty activists were charged with criminal trespass and two were found bound to equipment, charged with disorderly conduct, and hindering law enforcement, according to the press release.
Eight more activists were arrested Wednesday, two men were charged with reckless endangerment, a felony, and could face up to give years and or a USD 10,000 fine, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
South of 1-94 near Mandan where 22 activists were arrested Tuesday, September 13, 2016 – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“Drunk Indian is Dead”
Americanhorse, known by friends as Happi, doesn’t see himself as the local hero he has become in online headlines and print media. He’s well spoken, peaceful in presence, commanding a quiet authority with his six-foot tall, 250-pound frame. Like many his age, he doesn’t know his native language, but intends to learn.
On August 31, the 26-year-old Sicangu-Oglala Lakota warrior pushed aside his fears, and leapt onto an excavator, forcing the driver to shut down the engine – in accordance with OSHA regulations. Fortunately for Americanhorse, the driver walked away, saying he got paid whether he worked or not. Wrapping his arms around a part of the machinery, he chained himself with a plastic pipe smothered in tar. For six hours, law enforcement tried hacksaws, crane lifts, pondered how to disassemble the machinery before he was freed.
And then he was arrested.
Dale “Happi” Americanhorse Jr. wearing the same clothes and bandana he wore after chaining himself to Dakota Access machinery. Photo taken at Shane Balkowitsch Studio while he was posing for a wet plate. – photo by C.S. Hagen
Most netizens applauded his bravery. A few made comments to cut off his arms, or use a bone saw.
To Americanhorse, the pending court date is a small price to pay to protect water and land. “My main focus is this fight, and it’s all over the continent, in fact it’s all over the world,” he said. “When we’re done with this fight, and we’re going to win this fight, I am going to go look for allies that came here who have their own problems and I want to be able to sit there with them and fight those fights, whatever it is they’re fighting just in solidarity for them doing the same with me.”
Americanhorse while chained to a Dakota Access excavator – online sources
Not in seven generations have Native Americans come together in such strength, he said. Old grudges have been cast aside. Daily, tribal leaders stretching from one coast of North America to the other stand to speak before the hundreds, sometimes thousands gathered. One of the most historical moments was when the Crow tribe, one of the Sioux’s oldest enemies, arrived at camp in a show of support.
Historically, the US government has tried to eradicate Native American culture, Carina Miller, a councilwoman from the Warm Springs Tribe in Oregon, said. She heeded the call to rise at 5 a.m.
“Get up. They’re back,” someone in the darkness called out. “Get up. They’re back.”
She jumped into her “pony,” a 2010 Chevy Cobalt, with friends and drove to the site, but company workers could not proceed; the ground was too wet.
Miller grew up on a reservation, the local school district did not allow her to learn her own language, and she feels the government tried to erase her and her tribe.
Activists after taking control of excavation equipment – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“They pit us against each other, breaking treaties, trying to wipe us out,” Miller said. “People need to understand history.” Today, her tribe fights Nestle over water bottling rights on Native American land in Oregon, she said. The gathering of so many indigenous nations has brought her hope for her homeland.
“It’s a really strong and powerful presence,” Americanhorse said. “It feels like it is going to be a lot easier for us to work together. If we can establish a way we can work together here, then in the future when another issue comes up, something threatening another indigenous tribe, we can get together.”
The road to becomming involved in the fight to protect water and sacred lands wasn’t easy, but in the end, the decision to give up his old life was. All roads pointed to Sacred Stone Camp. As a child in the public school system in Colorado, Americanhorse was shunned both by white people and other indigenous tribes, like the Utes and the Navajo, he said. He learned to shy away from outsider help, grew up with violence and chaos. Drank on the weekends.
In town, he has to constantly stay on the lookout for out-of-town pickup trucks. Where there are work trucks, man camps cannot be far away in western North Dakota. Where there are man camps, there are the cartels. And where there are cartels, sex trafficking, methamphetamine dealers, not to mention frustrated men with too much money, are in abundance.
“They prey on the indigenous women,” he said. “It’s not talked about, because they’re up here in North Dakota where everyone is supposed to be making all this money, but nobody really cares.”
He said indigenous towns such as Cannon Ball, have monstrous problems with teenage suicide, methamphetamine use, and a desperation that can be known only to the downtrodden.
“It’s weird when it comes to race,” he said. “The race issue for me was a pretty big thing. I thought all white people were racists.”
Americanhorse’s mother was the one who offered a helping hand, slyly roping him into fighting pipelines, he said. She introduced him to horses, and then to the KXL pipeline fight.
“At first I didn’t want to be there, I didn’t want to help. But that was the first step, going to the pipeline and to that fight was my first step in the right direction.”
But after the KXL pipeline project was defeated, he returned home. Went back to his normal jobs, sometimes as an assistant manager at Dominoes, at other times a casino in Colorado.
“I was walking in a world and a reality where I was worried about a certain image of me. I didn’t really think of where things came from or how they were made, and I didn’t think of the environment that much.”
His second step, he said, came when he watched a Sundance – a Native American spiritual ceremony where participants pierce their flesh with roped hooks tied to a tree. They perform ritual dances around the tree until the hooks fall out.
“You cannot bring negative thoughts to a Sundance,” he said. The experience changed his thoughts on his lifestyle, and led him to horses.
“My mother roped me in again,” he said. “I kept meeting people active against pipelines.”
She introduced him to a horse whisperer, not far from the Sacred Stone Camp. There, he learned how to approach a horse, how to groom them, how to saddle a horse, and how to ride. He now owns a two-year-old Blue Roan named Guardian, part Dakota, part Choctaw. It was after learning about horses that he decided to become involved in his second pipeline fight, the Dakota Access Pipeline. What was supposed to be a short visit has become a struggle he will not leave until it is finished.
At first, no more than fifteen people lived at the Sacred Stone Camp. With only USD 3,000 in support, they watched the excavators push aside what was once their tribe’s soil. “We couldn’t do anything at first,” he said. “We didn’t have the numbers.”
Americanhorse simulating oil in his hands at Shane Balkowitsch Studio in Bismarck – photo by C.S. Hagen
Sometimes Americanhorse went for two days without sleep. Camp life is hard, especially as their numbers grew quickly through the popularity of social media. Daily, he and others ensure activists have shelter, warmth, food, proper tents, firewood, and clean water. A school for children has been setup, a library as well. Medical crews are on constant standby to help the elderly or the sick. The Dakota prairie is mostly barren of vegetables and trees, so he gathers driftwood for fuel, and depends on donations to survive.
Smaller camps along the so-called front lines have been setup. Before sunrise, September 8, activists wearing bandanas over their faces returned from scouting maneuvers along the pipeline’s planned route. Some activists burned braided sweetgrass and waved the smoke over themselves before missions; for the company was watching them, just as they were watching the company, activists said.
They’re organized, committed, and prepared to be arrested.
Rope stretched across the highway was used to slow traffic. Any fence knocked down was quickly rebuilt. Trash was collected in buckets. Porta-potties, food, and much needed coffee were brought from Big Camp to keep the front-liners as refreshed as possible. During the quieter times, some along the front line nap, or read books. Others warm themselves around a fire sipping hot drinks and discussing recent events. Any time a two-way radio growled to life, they become instantly alert, listening for action.
Despite the hardships of camp life, or perhaps more appropriately because of it, Americanhorse found his calling.
“Being out here made me want to be more involved in this life. I want to bring our culture back to the people, our ways of life in modern day.”
Squash drying by Winona Kasto – photo by C.S. Hagen
He has also learned that not all white people are racists. In addition to the thousands of Native Americans, others from all walks of life have begun committing their time, money, and for some, their personal freedoms to protect water, and now indigenous land. “It has been through fighting pipelines that I learned to be more open minded to everything.”
Like all Native Americans, Americanhorse understands oil is important to modern society. He knows that oil also must go from point A to point B, to be refined, and then shipped across the globe. But Bakken crude will never travel under the Missouri River, where Dakota Access plans the pipe to run. More monies and research needs to be poured into alternative forms of research pertaining to solar and wind powers, he said, instead of bolstering a dangerous addiction to fossil fuels with a pipeline that will one day leak.
“You cannot ignore this many nations coming together,” Americanhorse said. “You can’t see that and challenge it. This billion-dollar industry has never seen anything like this before.” Losing this fight, for Americanhorse, is not an option.
“There are more people involved in this fight than you know, and this pipeline is affecting a lot of people.”
Some of the activists are weekend warriors. Some are drifters, traveling by car, by bus, by hitching rides. Others like Richard Fisher, half African American and half Native American, gave up his 19-dollar-an-hour job in Sisseton, South Dakota to volunteer in the camp’s kitchen.
Richard Fisher, a volunteer cook from South Dakota preparing evening meal – photo by C.S. Hagen
“I was born for this,” Fisher said. He stirred a cauldron of chili for the camp’s evening meal. “My dad was a Black Panther and my mother was with AIM.”
One of the camp’s head chefs and a traditional cook, Winona Kasto, is in charge of feeding any hungry mouth that comes her way. “It’s never ending, but it’s not tiring,” she said. “I came here because of the need to feed the people.” Usually, Kasto cooks wojapi, or a berry pudding, prepares dried squash, dried corn, stews, traditional native food, and in her spare time, if she can find any, holds classes for the youth to learn old indigenous recipes.
Americanhorse has given up his old way of life as well and returned to one much older. When there are no more pipelines or other issues to fight, he plans to raise horses, help his mother on her ranch where she owns breeds whose bloodlines can be traced to Sitting Bull’s herd.
Everywhere in the camp people are smiling, introducing themselves. Children play cops and robbers, volleyball, basketball to pass the calmer moments. Native American drummers sing traditional songs from all corners. At night, dozens gather around the fire at the Sacred Circle to pray and dance, a tradition that was once banned inside the United States.
Cooks at Big Camp, Winona Kasto, traditional cook, at right – photo by C.S. Hagen
“The drunk Indian is dead,” Americanhorse said. “There are a lot more people going in the cultural ways. I see the healing. I look forward to seeing other cultures come up and bring their structures up, and that way witness other cultural presences from every other nation.”
Americanhorse’s story is endemic among many Native Americans gathered outside of Cannon Ball. Far too many appear to come from troubled childhoods, addictions, and are searching for identity. Like confessions, their stories are told nightly around the Sacred Fire. They are returning to their roots and ancestral traditions, and discovering for the first time a peace they’ve never known before, while at the same time learning to accept all cultures.
One canoe rower spoke to a crowd of onlookers before pulling into the Missouri River.
“When you pull an oar you dig deep. It hurts, but it is supposed to.” The repetitive movement, not unlike meditation and prayer, helped him heal from a troubled childhood, he said.
“This is a very historical event, foretold by our elders that the Seventh Generation would rise up,” Layha Spoonhunter, an eastern Shoshone said. “We are seeing that here, and in many ways, we’ve already won. We’re going to win with the prayers and the songs that have been offered here, that is our strength and that will take us to victory.”
Oil Profiteers
Seventeen worldwide banks and financial institutions are backing Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access LLP, according to the Food and Water Watch. The banks include: Citibank, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo, Credit Suisse, DNB Capital, Royal Bank of Canada, US Bank, BNP Paribus, Royal Bank of Scotland, TD Securities, ABN AMRO, Philadelphia’s DNB First Bank, ICBC London, SMBC Nico Securities, and Societe Generale, and they’ve extended a USD 3.75 billion credit line. More than thirty other banks are provided general financing for Sunoco Logistics Partners LP and Energy Transfer Partners.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe flag with ever-present helicopter in distance – photo by C.S. Hagen
Dakota Access LLC is a joint venture between Phillips 66 and Energy Transfer Partners LP, and recently Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, Enbridge, and Marathon Oil purchased up to 37 percent stake in the pipeline.
“I think it is important to see the forces behind this particular pipeline as the same forces behind numerous other pipelines across the country, both to support fracking for tight oil as well as fracking for shell gas all toward maximizing production of oil and gas, when the science is clear we need to maximize what we keep in the ground,” Hugh MacMillan, a senior researcher for Food and Water Watch said.
“If you ask Morgan Stanley, they said a year ago that the oil producers are getting into ‘prison shape,’ and without irony,” MacMillan said the company reported in 2015. “So, you know, this is a long-term, these are long-term investments from the banks. They fully expect the United States to maximize its production of oil and gas through widespread fracking.”
Investors do not only include banks. Politicians are also involved.
Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D., a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, has invested in companies involved in the Bakken oil patch, including Energy Transfer Partners and the San Antonio-based independent petroleum refining company Valero Energy Corporation, both for up to USD 250,000, and not less than USD 100,001, according to the United States Senate. Hoeven has also invested up to USD 100,000 in Kinder Morgan Inc., an energy infrastructure company, and up to USD 1,000 in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan. Additionally, investments of up to USD 250,000 were made with Union Pacific Corp., a crude rail transporter, and up to USD 250,000 in CSX Corp, which is a North Dakota crude rail carrier, according to the U.S. Senate. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been invested by Hoeven into oil wells owned by Whiting Petroleum Corporation and ExxonMobil, and both companies have donated to Hoeven’s 2016 senate campaign, according to Open Secrets.org, Center for Responsive Politics.
Hoeven, who was known for his support of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and supports building the Dakota Access Pipeline, also has personally invested in 68 different oil-producing wells in North Dakota listed under the 2012-company Mainstream Investors, LLC, according to the United States Senate financial disclosure form. Continental Resources, Inc., the company which is ran by its CEO, Harold Hamm, a campaign energy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, owns 17 of the wells.
Additionally, in 2016, Continental Resources, Inc. contributed USD 10,200 to Hoeven’s campaign, and since 2010 Hamm with his former wife Sue contributed USD 8,000 to Hoeven, according to Oil Change International’s Dirty Energy Money database. ExxonMobil contributed USD 10,000, and Whiting Petroleum Corporation has contributed USD 2,750 to Hoeven’s 2016 senate campaign.
“It is certainly a confluence of interests,” MacMillan said. “They would argue it is not a conflict of interest because it’s all in the public interest. He’s obviously up there talking about what a wonderful thing all this fracking is in North Dakota. Has an attitude of ‘get off my back, we’re doing a good job,’ but when coupled with investing in these wells, it doesn’t look so good.”
Hoeven said he sold his shares in Energy Transfer in 2015, but owns other shares in other energy companies. He does not see his investments as a conflict of interest and has “always been a strong supporter of energy development in our state and across the country.
“We need to build infrastructure to move energy safely and efficiently and modern pipelines continue to be the safest way to move oil and gas around the country,” Hoeven said.
North Dakota’s “wild west” oil boom kept the state afloat during recent economic downturns, but the real national and state costs are only beginning to show, researchers report.
Native American activist, or water protector, during rally – photo by C.S. Hagen
An April 27, 2016 study released by Duke University, funded by the National Science Foundation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and published in the Environmental Science & Technology magazine shows that accidental wastewater spills from “unconventional oil production in North Dakota have caused widespread water and soil contamination.” More than 9,700 wells have been drilled in the Bakken region of North Dakota in the past decade, which led to more than 3,900 brine spills, primarily from faulty pipes, the report states.
The water studied in some spill sites was unsafe to drink, the study reported.
High levels of ammonium, selenium, lead, and salts have been found in the soil; streams have been polluted by wastewater, which contain contaminants, according to the study. Soil along spill sites has also been contaminated with radium, a radioactive element.
“Many smaller spills have also occurred on tribal lands, and as far as we know, no one is monitoring them,” Avner Vengosh, a researcher and a professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences at Duke University said. “People who live on the reservations are being left to wonder how it might affect their land, water, health and way of life.”
The spills are primarily coming from pipelines in the Bakken area, he said. The spill areas have not affected reservoirs for human drinking water, but some are close. Everyone shudders when news of an oil spill breaks headlines; brine spills are far more frightening, he said.
“Nature cannot heal from inorganic brine spills,” Vengosh said. “The contaminants are going to stay. You can dilute and over time this will help, but the actual concentration will remain.”
In other words, areas where the brine spills have occurred in the Bakken region must be completely removed and disposed of. Radiation, which could spread by wild animals, is another concern that is difficult to control.
“And the more wells you drill, the more spill you have,” Vengosh said.
In 2014, one of North Dakota’s largest spills sent approximately one million gallons of brine into Bear Den Bay on the Fort Berthold Reservation, a quarter mile upstream from a drinking water intake on Lake Sakakawea, according to the report.
More recently in 2015, CSX Corp train carrying hazardous materials derailed in Kentucky, and in 2014 a CSX Corp train hauling North Dakota crude derailed, bursting into flames in West Virginia, spilling more than 800 barrels into the James River.
Transporting crude oil by rail or by truck is in decline, analysts say, primarily due to costs. Pipelines are cheaper. Since 2010, however, more than 3,300 incidents of crude oil and liquefied natural gas leaks or ruptures have occurred in pipelines within the United States, according to the Center for Effective Government. The incidents have killed 80 people, injured 389, and have created $2.8 billion in damages, not to mention the lingering effect on humans, and the release of toxic chemicals into soil, waterways, and air. Nearly one third of the spills since 2010 came from pipelines carrying crude oil, as the Dakota Access Pipeline plans to carry.
Researchers say more money and attention needs to focus on alternative energy sources, and not bolstering old methods for burning fossil fuels.
“The solutions are there, not just for producing renewable energy, but for conservation and efficiency,” MacMillan said. “It’s just a matter of building it out. We don’t have the commitments from state and federal governments or private sectors to sink the money to make that happen.”
Native American canoe rowing toward Camp of the Sacred Rock on Missouri River – photo by C.S. Hagen
The main force behind the Dakota Access Pipeline is the founder of Energy Transfer Partners, Kelcy Warren, worth USD 7.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Warren’s fortunes have come from transporting crude oil others pull from underground, according to Bloomberg. His mansion, a 23,000-square-foot home on 10 acres of land in north Dallas features 13 bathrooms, a chip-and-putt green, a pole-vault pit, a four-lane bowling alley, and a 200-seat theater. On his ranch near Austin, he raises giraffes, javelinas, and Asian oxen. He also ranches in eastern Texas and southwest Colorado, has a house on Lake Tahoe, and an island off the coast of Honduras.
“To be where we are today, it’s like a dream,” Warren said in the May 18, 2015 Bloomberg article. “I swear to God, I almost think we did it without anybody noticing.”
The Dakota Access Pipeline began in May 2016, and if finished will snake through the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, where it will join up with a second 774-mile pipeline to Nederland, Texas. More than 570,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil will pass through the pipeline per day if it is finished third quarter 2016, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The upside-down flag symbolizes distress, yet some activists are calling for the flag to be turned upright. – photo by C.S. Hagen
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe begins its fight against Dakota Access Pipeline, activists arrested, governor declares emergency state
By C.S. Hagen CANNON BALL, ND – The Bakken Pipeline began quietly, leaving few footprints along its legal trail straight into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ lap. Shortly after the 1,172-mile project was green-lighted, protests erupted in western North Dakota. Arrests and lawsuits, calls for peace and threats of violence, followed.
On Friday, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple issued an emergency situation due to civil unrest, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department, and Morton County Commissioners extended the declaration on Monday.
The protest along the pipeline’s route less than one mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation of North Dakota and South Dakota, started on August 10 when tribesmen blocked an access point for Dakota Access, LLC construction crews, effectively forcing workers to leave the area. A total of thirteen arrests were made, but the activists’ war cry did not change – water and oil do not mix.
Within a week the activists’ numbers grew from 200 to more than 2,000 people coming from across the United States and Canada, activists said.
Dakota Access Pipeline activists on horseback, Spirit of Cherry Valley – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch
On August 15, Dakota Access LLC moved equipment and employees back to the construction route. A hole was cut into a fence, allowing access to more than 50 activists, leading to accounts of broken machinery windows and an assault on a private security worker, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Activists on horseback charged police, forcing them to retreat from their line, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. More arrests were made. As of Monday, a total of 29 activists, including Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, or the Hunkpapa Oyate, had been arrested, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Of those arrested, 26 were charged for disorderly conduct, and three were charged with criminal trespass. All have since been released.
A standoff between activists and law enforcement ensued.
Law enforcement guarding their line at the Dakota Access Pipeline – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch
Divergent movie series heroine Shailene Woodley during a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Bismarck, ND – courtesy of online sources
The outcry against big oil attracted Hollywood movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio’s attention, and on August 11 brought Divergent movie series heroine Shailene Woodley to join the protesters.
“The spirits are there, the people are there,” activist Margaret Landin said. “They are empowering each other.”
Tensions are brewing. While Archambault calls demonstrators to peace, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier fears for safety.
Black Land Rovers with tinted windows are parked nearby, watching, activists report. Authorities began investigating two incidents of laser strikes against aircraft conducting surveillance on the protesting encampment, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. The strikes allegedly occurred on August 17 and Sunday, temporarily blinding one pilot, and is considered a federal crime leading to a fine or imprisonment for up to five years or both if convicted.
Six miles south of Mandan, State Highway Patrol troopers closed Highway 1806 to traffic. Cellular phone services have been terminated to the area, activists report. Local parks, campgrounds, boat ramps, and fishing areas have been shut down. Work on the pipeline has been halted. Rumors that construction workers had discovered old Native American burial grounds were not verified.
“We’re trying to provide a line, a safe line for the pipeline people to enter and to go and do their legal work,” Kirchmeier said. “And they were preparing to throw pipe bombs at our line, M-80s, fireworks, things of that nature to disrupt us.
“That, in itself, makes it an unlawful protest. In that area people are compromising the private land down there, and they’re compromising the equipment that is down there.”
Online threats have also been made on social media against the lives of law enforcement officials in the area, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. “We take these comments very seriously,” Kirchmeier said. “We have to take these comments very seriously to protect not only officers’ safety, but residents who live in the area along with those participating in the protest activities. The threats are very concerning.”
Dalrymple’s declaration of an emergency situation was also instituted by fear.
“The State of North Dakota remains committed to protecting citizens’ rights to lawfully assemble and protest, but the unfortunate fact remains that unlawful acts associated with the protest near Cannon Ball have led to serious public safety concerns and property damage,” Dalrymple said in a press release on Friday . “This emergency declaration simply allows us to bring greater resources to bear if needed to help local officials address any further public safety concerns.”
Declaring an emergency situation also allows for the coordinated and effective effort of “appropriate government departments” to minimize the impact of the emergency, according to the executive order issued by Dalrymple. Rumors the National Guard had been called in for support were not verified at press time.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., stressed the importance of protecting the rights of all parties involved, and that she would continue to meet with anyone wanting to discuss the issues.
“As North Dakota continues to reduce its reliance on moving crude by rail, producers will keep looking to pipelines as an important part of our energy infrastructure – both for our state and the nation,” Heitkamp said.
“Just as with any infrastructure project, we need to make sure the Dakota Access Pipeline is thoroughly vetted, reviewed, and if approved has the proper safeguards in place. It’s critical that as federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers review energy infrastructure projects, they follow all applicable environmental requirements, and respect treaty rights and as well as the need for proper consultation with tribal nations.”
Cherry Creek singers with drum and law enforcement – Corey Carson of Elevate Studios, Bismarck
Dr. Sarah Jumping Eagle was among the first people arrested at the encampment. She was released on bail. Jumping Eagle is a mother of three, and a pediatrician at a hospital in Standing Rock.
Dr. Sarah Jumping Eagle
“It’s very frustrating seeing the actions by the state, they’re the ones escalating this and spreading misinformation,” Jumping Eagle said. “They’re using falsehoods to find ways to escalate their own agenda.
“Historically, they would hype up in the newspaper, hype up the local people, hype up the police forces, so that basically the Army could come in. That’s the history of the United States. There is no incentive for them to take it down a notch, there’s a financial incentive to make it appear our camp is potentially violent or threatening.
“Yes, we are protesting and protecting the land,” Jumping Eagle said. “But people are doing that in the manner that is consistent with our beliefs.”
On Monday, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the International Indian Treaty Council appealed to the United Nations for assistance, according to media outlet Indian Country.
“We specifically request that the United States Government impose an immediate moratorium on all pipeline construction until the Treaty Rights and Human Rights of the Standing Rock Tribe can be ensured and their free, prior and informed consent is obtained,” Archambault and the Treaty Council said in their petition to the United Nations.
The Seventh Generation
Landin joins the protest traveling from her home in Bismarck every other day. Families with infants, the young and the elderly, Native Americans, and people from all races and cultures have gathered in the Dakota prairie. Citizens are donating food, sleeping bags, outdoor chairs, drinking and washing water, Landin said, and she has not seen or heard of pipe bombs or weapons, in fact, protest organizers do not allow weapons, drugs, or alcohol on to the encampment grounds, she said.
“It is an amazing thing to see,” Landin said. “I literally tear-ed up, there are so many people there to support, and it doesn’t even matter your race.”
No firearms, no alcohol, no cameras allowed, photographer and ambrotypist Shane Balkowitsch said. He traveled from Bismarck to photograph the encampment using the wet plate photography technique, a painstaking process where exposures must be quickly developed in a dark room on scene. Balkowitsch was one of the first to photographers on the scene, he said, and he joined the protest to support the friends he met during his recent work on a photography project for for the Historical Society of North Dakota called “Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective.”
“I saw no weapons, no pushing,” Balkowitsch said. “It was a civil and peaceful protest. They are very adamant, very dedicated to this obviously, but being dedicated to something is not a bad thing.
“I was treated with hugs.”
Longtime activist Winona Laduke may ride horseback at Stanley Rock, where the thousands camped at Camp of the Sacred Stone are attracting more support every day. Since nearby highways have been blocked, activists are leading supporters into the area on foot. “They’re trying to put the squeeze on this tribe by blocking the highway to their casino and to the protest. And it has backfired on themselves,” Laduke said.
The ‘squeeze’ is not working.
As the executive director of the Native American environmental group Honor the Earth, and twice Ralph Nader’s Green Party vice presidential candidate, Laduke traveled from her home at White Earth Reservation in Minnesota and stayed two days at the encampment. Friday night during a rainstorm, more than 800 people ate dinner at the tribe’s Prairie Knights Casino, Laduke said. “It’s having a booming business. And this talk about pipe bombs is just not true. They’re using [smoking] pipes. I even brought my pipe down there. There are no bombs, no weapons.”
Speaker giving talk to activists, or protectors, at the Dakota Access Pipeline – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch
Laduke spent her birthday at the encampment, among the rolling prairie hills where she could imagine the buffalo that once roamed freely. Nestled against the Missouri River – the mother river – Laduke said it was the best birthday present she could have hoped for.
Winona Laduke
“I picked sage, sat in my tipi, and joined in with about 40 people younger than me,” Laduke said. “That is a pretty good birthday present to myself.”
Landin noticed a difference in the protesters, a difference that invokes an ancient prophecy.
“It is the youth,” Landin said. “The youth are really standing up and speaking out. They are a different generation. They are the Seventh Generation.”
The Seventh Generation, descendants of those forced into reservations approximately 140 years ago, are supposed to set rights to wrongs, Landin said. The principle is more than legend or prophecy; it is recorded in the Iroquois Great Law of Peace.
Besides being involved in the protest, young activists, or protectors as activists call themselves, participated in a relay footrace from western North Dakota to Washington DC called “Run for Our Water” earlier in 2016, and then joined protests before the US Supreme Court and at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Pipeline
Despite Standing Rock Sioux objections, the Bakken Pipeline, officially known as the Dakota Access Pipeline, began in May 2016, and if finished will snake through the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, where it will join up with a second 774-mile pipeline to Nederland, Texas. More than 570,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil will pass through the pipeline per day after it is finished third quarter 2016, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Oil Pipeline – Grand Forks Herald
The Dakota Access LLC pipeline, which is a joint venture between Enbridge Energy Partners LP and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, would also span 200 water crossings, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission, and in North Dakota alone would pass through 33 historical and archeological sites. Initially, the pipeline was to run north of Bismarck, but because it proved to be a potential threat to Bismarck’s wellhead source water protection areas, the route was cancelled and relocated to its current course, less than a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
According to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee, who for the sake of his job wished to remain anonymous, a safe oil pipeline does not exist. Erosion by time, plate tectonics, natural disasters, shoddy workmanship or faulty parts, and cutting corners to fill big oil coffers are part of any pipeline recipe.
Since 2010, more than 3,300 incidents of crude oil and liquefied natural gas leaks or ruptures have occurred in pipelines within the United States, according to the Center for Effective Government. The incidents have killed 80 people, injured 389, and have created $2.8 billion in damages, not to mention the lingering effect on humans, and the release of toxic chemicals into soil, waterways, and air. Nearly one third of the spills since 2010 came from pipelines carrying crude oil, as the Dakota Access Pipeline plans to carry.
In 2010, the first year after the Keystone pipeline was completed, 35 leaks were discovered, according to Earthjustice, an environmental law organization.
Dave Archambault II
In a statement from Archambault on August 16, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said the issue is not only a Lakota or Dakota issue, but it is a human issue.
“I am here to advise anyone that will listen that the Dakota Access Pipeline project is harmful,” Archambault said. “It will not be just harmful to my people but its intent and construction will harm the water in the Missouri River, which is one of the cleanest and safest river tributaries left in the Unit States. To poison the water is to poison the substance of life. Everything that moves must have water.
“How can we talk about and knowingly poison water?”
Legal Warriors
On July 27, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe represented by Earthjustice filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claiming that the project violated the “National Historic Preservation Act” by endangering river waters and by authorizing the construction of the pipeline underneath Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri River, approximately half a mile upstream from the tribe’s reservation. In the lawsuit, the tribe sought an injunction against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in addition to a full inspection of compliance, and a declaration that the corps’ authorizations for the pipeline were in violation of the reservation’s rights according to the two Treaties of Fort Laramie in 1851 and 1868.
Gathering crowd at the Dakota Access Pipeline – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch
“The current proposed route across Lake Oahe a half of a mile upstream of the tribe’s reservation boundary, where any leak or spill from the pipeline would flow into the reservation,” the lawsuit said. “The tribe and its members have been deeply concerned about the potential impacts of the Lake Oahe crossing since its inception.”
The tribe, according to the lawsuit, relies on the lake for drinking water for thousands of people, and for irrigation, fishing, recreation, and for cultural and religious practices. “An oil spill from the pipeline into Lake Oahe would cause an economic, public health and welfare, and cultural crisis of the greatest magnitude,” according to lawsuit documents.
Fearing bodily injury to Dakota Access LLC employees and contractors, the oil company struck back, filing restraining orders on August 15 and seeking monetary damages against members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
Meanwhile, other issues are piling up for Dakota Access LLC.
On July 20 Enbridge Energy Partners LLP was ordered by the Justice Department and the EPA to pay $177 million for its responsibility in the 2010 Michigan Tar Sands Spill. Enbridge spent six years and more than one billion dollars in cleanup efforts, but the area was not restored, according to media outlet Bold Nebraska.
After spending millions, and wasting years battling for approval of a Bakken crude oil pipeline across Minnesota, Enbridge Energy Partners LLP switched gears, joining with Marathon Petroleum Corporation to run a different pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline, through North Dakota, a state that is far less strict on environmental issues than Minnesota. The Minnesota Sandpiper pipeline has been put on the back burner until 2019, according to Enbridge, and analysts predict the project will never be resurrected.
In Iowa where work on the pipeline is underway, three fires erupted causing heavy damage to equipment and causing an estimated $1 million in damages. Investigators suspect arson, according to Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty.
In October 2015, three Iowa farmers sued Dakota Access LLC and the Iowa Utilities Board in an attempt to prevent the use of eminent domain on their properties to construct the pipeline.
Dakota Access LLC personnel did not return telephone calls by press time.
More Dirty Blankets
Tribal leaders claim the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not discuss the pipeline project adequately.
“The tribe has never been able to participate meaningfully in assessing the significance of sites that are potentially affected by the project,” the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe lawsuit stated.
The Standing Rock Tribal Historic Preservation Office received a generic letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking consultation on February 12, 2015 pertaining to bore hole testing, according to the lawsuit documents.
Tribal leaders objected, but received no response until September 16, 2015, when a second letter stated the consultation process ended on January 18, 2015, according to lawsuit documents. Again, tribal leaders objected, demanding joint consultation and a class III survey in conjunction with tribal archeologists.
Camp of the Sacred Stone at Cannon Ball, ND – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch
Instead of addressing concerns, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ next step was to publish a draft environmental assessment that did not include a single mention of the potential impacts of the pipeline project to the tribe, according to lawsuit documents.
Not until February 2016 did the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Colonel John Henderson begin discussions with Standing Rock Sioux tribal leaders. Several visits were made, at which point tribal archeologists showed military personnel shards of bone and pottery that had been pushed from the ground by burrowing moles.
On April 22, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ response was to make the formal finding that “no historic properties were affected,” according to lawsuit documents.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disagreed, stating that investigators followed procedure.
“The Corps conducted formal government-to-government consultation with tribal representative via meetings; site visits; distribution of pertinent information; conference calls, and emails in order to inform tribal governments and private members, and to better understand their concerns.
“All information received during the … process was considered during the Corps decision-making process. Ultimately, the District made a ‘No Historic Properties Affected’ determination.”
Historically, British and American governments have deceived Native Americans by many means, through trick, by trade, and according to some, with biological warfare.
In 1763, a British captain gave smallpox-infested blankets to Ottawa Native American warriors. The account is documented in the journal of William Trent, a local trader who had close dealings with British soldiers.
“Out of our regard for them, we gave them two blankets and a handkerchief out of the smallpox hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect,” Trent wrote in his journal on June 24, 1763.
Carl Waldman’s Atlas of North American Indian described the same instance, but in a different light. “… Captain Simeon Ecuyer had bought time by sending smallpox-infected blankets and handkerchiefs to the Indians surrounding the fort – which started an epidemic among them.”
Historians estimate three-quarters of the Native American population in the Ottawa area died from smallpox outbreaks after taking the blankets, according to media outlet Indian Country. Many agree that germs annihilated Native Americans, and not the “white man with guns.”
An unsubstantiated instance allegedly occurred in June 1837 when the U.S. Army began to dispense trade blankets to Mandan tribal people at Fort Clark along the Missouri River in North Dakota, according to the History News Network. The blankets were said to have come from a military smallpox infirmary in St. Louis, and brought upriver aboard the steamboat St. Peter’s. When the Native Americans showed symptoms of the disease, fort doctors allegedly told them to scatter and seek sanctuary with healthy relatives.
No matter how disease was introduced to the Mandan tribe in 1837, more than 100,000 Mandan Native Americans died from smallpox pandemic between 1836 and 1840, according to historians.
Closer to home, the events from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota during 1890 and the 1970s have further exacerbated mistrust between the U.S. government and the Lakota people. In 1890, Sitting Bull, a holy man and leader of the Lakota, was killed during the Ghost Dance movement at Wounded Knee. Later that year the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounded another band of Ghost Dancers slaughtering 150 Lakota tribesmen.
“The Grand River at Sitting Bull’s Cabin” about 100 yards from where Sitting Bull was gunned down. The Grand River is a tributary of the Missouri River – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch taken on July 9, 2016 accompanied by Ernie LaPoint great grandson of Sitting Bull
In 1970, the American Indian Movement known as AIM occupied the Wounded Knee holy site, sparking a 71-day siege by federal agents. Two Native Americans were killed, and one federal officer was paralyzed during altercations. In 1975, AIM activists killed two FBI agents during the “Pine Ridge Shootout.”
Additionally, in 1944, the Pick-Sloan Plan for flood control of the Missouri River gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the authority to build 107 dams, effectively forcing the relocation of nearly 1,000 Native American families. Later in 1946, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on the Fort Randall Dam in South Dakota, which in turn flooded 22,091 acres of Yankton Sioux land and forced 136 families to move elsewhere. According to online reports when the tribes affected informed the Department of Interior, government officials told them to start looking for new homes.
Again, in 1948, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction of the Oahe Dam, near to the demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline today. The project destroyed 90 percent of the timberland on the Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux reservations, and is known by some as the most destructive public works project in US history.
In 1959, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on the Big Bend Dam in South Dakota, on lands belonging to the Crow Creek Sioux and the Lower Brule Sioux. The project took away 21,026 acres of Sioux land, and flooded the town of Lower Brule. In 1960, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filed a condemnation suit against the Crow Creek Sioux and the Lower Brule Sioux to obtain the land. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was allowed to take title of the land.
For more than 130 years in the Black Hills, South Dakota, gold miners, and in recent history the Homestake Mine, poisoned river waters with sulfur, mercury, aluminum, cadmium, copper, iron, selenium, lead, and arsenic through Native American, private, state, and federal lands, according to a 2005 report filed by the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Services, and the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. The aftereffects of a century of gold and lead mining are toxic to flora and fauna, according to the report. Starting in 2005, efforts were being made to restore the areas affected along the Whitewood Creek, the Belle Fourche, and the Cheyenne rivers, and the Homestake Mining Company of California, Inc. ceased mining and production in 2001.
Whitewood Creek flows into the Belle Fourche River, which flows into the Cheyenne River, which flows into the Missouri River at Oahe Reservoir, according to the report.
“Whitewood Creek is an example of gross environmental degradation tacitly condoned by public apathy…” the report stated. “Once pollutants were no longer discharged, the ecosystem repaired itself, a tribute to its resilience… this story has not reached its conclusion… and the potential for future problems with heavy toxicity are real.”
The poisoning, swallowing, and destruction of Native American lands not only forced tribesmen to move, it crippled their way of life, their hunting and fishing grounds, their chance to sow crops on once fertile soil, their spiritual practices pertaining to ancient burial grounds, and further impoverished those living on reservations, government reports and activists said.
With such a historical pattern of deception and at times brute force, it is little wonder why Native Americans distrust anything government officials say, activists said.
“Native people including the Lakota, have no experience with the United States keeping its word, or that of corporations keeping their words,” Laduke said. “It is time for people to start keeping their words. They have a treaty right to that water.
“Corporations have more rights than people and eco-systems,” Laduke said. “These corporations need to be challenged. I am not afraid of them, and we all should not be afraid of corporations. They need to be put in their place.”
Although Jumping Eagle has charges hovering over her head, she is not daunted.
Jumping Eagle, an Oglala Sioux who married into the Standing Rock tribe, lives and works there, and she did not plan on getting arrested. A court date has been set, but she is not daunted. Instead, she plans to create hand-washing stations at the encampment.
“This is not something I take lightly, I keep it in mind, but I want to be able to protect the land and water. This is a crucial time. For too long we’ve allowed corporations to be more important than people. The company and the police are protecting the interests of an oil company directly violating the rights of people. We’ve already suffered enough. The fact that they want to place the pipe just north of our community when we are already dealing with so many other issues that could threaten our drinking water, and put us into a situation like Flint, and people will have to buy water? Is not right.
Activists on horseback and along their line – Corey Carson of Elevate Studios, Bismarck
“They think they can do whatever they want,” Jumping Eagle said. Not only is she active against Dakota Access Pipeline, she has also worked on other environmental issues ranging from new North Dakota Health Council regulations permitting the increased storage of oilfield waste – radioactive materials and chemicals – to fighting local uranium mines. “They think we are expendable or without a voice, without a choice. Going across Standing Rock land is against the treaty. But people don’t want to think about it. People want to trust their officials. The arguments they make are just trying to reassure themselves.”
Despite the deck being heavily stacked against her and her family, her tribe, and anyone living near or depending on the Missouri River or its tributaries for sustenance, Jumping Eagle remains hopeful that one day, things will change.
