Tag: Frost Kennels

Armed DAPL Mercenary Arrested in Bismarck

Dakota Access LLC security guard disguised as water protector who tried to ram car into Standing Rock main camp in 2016 faces drug and gun concealment charges 

By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK
– The disguised DAPL security guard set free by law enforcement last year after reportedly driving crazily toward the main No DAPL camp armed with a semi-automatic AR-15, was arrested Tuesday on unrelated charges, according to police. 

Kyle Thompson mugshot – Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department

Kyle James Thompson, 30, was arrested at 8:03 p.m. Tuesday for simple assault domestic violence, carrying a concealed weapon, and for possession of schedule I, II, and III drug paraphernalia, according to the Burleigh County arrest records. By Wednesday afternoon the domestic abuse charge was dropped, leaving two Class A misdemeanor charges: carrying a concealed firearm in his vehicle, and possessing drug paraphernalia, namely syringes and spoons, to consume methamphetamine, according to the Burleigh County Clerk of Court.

Bismarck Police Officer David Haswell stopped Thompson’s car on East Broadway Avenue in Bismarck for a welfare check, according to Clerk of Court records. “Police were notified by witnesses that a male subject was hitting a female subject in the car,” Haswell reported. “I made contact with the driver, Kyle Thompson, and asked him to exit the vehicle. While he exited the vehicle I noticed a handgun concealed between the driver seat and the center console.”

Thompson’s DAPL security badge taken from pickup truck – online sources

In the backseat, Thompson allegedly also had a rifle, Clerk of Court documents reported. Officers also located a small zipper case inside the vehicle with multiple syringes, spoons, a white residue, a grinder with residue, and a glass smoking device, Clerk of Court documents said. 

“The capped needles field tested positive for methamphetamines,” Haswell wrote. “Thompson does not have a concealed carry permit.” 

Nearly six months ago when law enforcement took over the Standing Rock’s Treaty Camp, pitched in the Dakota Access Pipeline’s route, Thompson was arrested by Bureau of Indian Affairs agents after activists slammed a vehicle into his pickup truck. He was disguised as a “water protector” in a t-shirt and bandana covering his face. A short foot pursuit ended in a pond near the camp where according to video reports and interviews with activists, Thompson fired his weapon twice. 

In November 2016, Thompson and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation found no evidence that Thompson fired his weapon. Documents linking Thompson to Thompson-Gray LLC, a security firm, were found inside the pickup truck. 

Brennon Nastacio and Kyle Thompson on October 27, 2016 – online sources

After BIA agents handed Thompson over to Morton County officials, he was released, and he was called a victim by Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. 

“Three days ago on October 27th, I was in a situation in which myself and others were faced with the difficult decision to take another’s life or not,” Thompson said on his Facebook page shortly after the ordeal. “I drew out my rifle after my vehicle was disabled and over 300 protesters were rapidly approaching my location, a few had knives and were dead set on using those knives.” 

Brennon Nastacio – Facebook page

The man who stopped him, Brennon “BJ” Nastacio, a Pueblo Native American from Boulder, Colorado, was placed on Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s Most Wanted List. He turned himself in and now faces felony terrorizing charges. Nastacio has had a preliminary hearing where he said the judge already set a court date of October 5. 

“I found that to be fishy,” Nastacio said. “But I pray that he [Thompson] finds help that he needs while being incarcerated. People are so quick to wish bad and talk negative, I am not one of them. I think we endured enough bad and negativity and to add more just isn’t how I was raised. So I am hopeful that this is a wake up call for him to stop walking down that path of destruction.” 

Nastacio remains hopeful that his name will be cleared. “But I am aware that my case is in a county where 92 percent of the people there think that we are guilty. I can only be hopeful and pray for a good outcome.” 

Two others were charged with Class C felony crimes when activists stopped Thompson: Michael Fasig of Minnesota and Israel Hernandez of New York, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. The two “committed reckless endangerment offenses when they rammed a truck driven by another individual,” a Morton County Sheriff’s Department press release reported.

Provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department

Thompson-Gray LLC is listed under Silverton Consulting International, according to the Ohio Secretary of State. The company was not authorized to work in North Dakota, the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation reported. Rumors at the time when trained dogs attacked activists in September 2016 reported G4S, a U.K.-based security company that often goes by nickname the “Chaos Company,” was involved as the Dakota Access Pipeline’s private security firm are unfounded, and denied by G4S staff. 

G4S does have multiple companies established in North Dakota, according to the North Dakota Secretary of State. 

Charles Graham Clifton with horses in 2015 – photo provided by Joshua Franke-Hyland

Charles Graham Clifton is listed as the owner of Ohio-based Silverton Consulting International, a new company reported as “shady” in online reviews. Clifton is also the owner of AMGI Global, Ltd. Co., now dissolved for tax reasons in Texas, Knightsbridge Risk Management, now dissolved for noncompliance in Colorado. He has connections to the ISSE Foundation Inc., Red Rock Ordnance LLC, and Red Rock Armory, all dissolved for tax issues in Texas, the Lodestar Services International, dissolved in Colorado in 2011, and Humanitarian Defense, dissolved for tax reasons in Wyoming 2010. 

Joshua P. Franke-Hyland once worked with Clifton at AMGI Global, Ltd. Co., he said. “It was a 100 percent failure,” Franke-Hyland said. Clifton is “a scam artist with a very long history of scamming people of all types.” 

Barbara Marie Colliton – photo provided by Joshua Franke-Hyland

Clifton is on the run, Franke-Hyland said, from bench warrants for felony theft and civil lawsuits. Franke-Hyland believes the use of attack dogs was issued by Barbara Colliton, Clifton’s partner and frequent registered agent. Colliton was arrested in December 2016 but released in Taylor County, Texas after restitution was paid, Franke-Hyland said. 

Another company that used attack dogs on September 3 was the Ohio-based Frost Kennels, whose owner, Bob Frost, admitted to using the dogs on September 3, 2016. 

“We went out there to do a job and we did it,” Frost said in September 2016. “So we just said f*ck it, and got our dogs, and tried to make a bridge between them and the workers.” 

Morton County Sheriff’s Department said the companies involved as security firms for Dakota Access LLC on September 3 were not licensed to work in North Dakota, but did not file any charges against security personnel or companies involved. 

Franke-Hyland sued Clifton in Bexar County, and Clifton also is listed as being sued in Bastrop, Texas. 

“Clifton’s dream is to be G4S-AMGI, and was supposed to be Clifton’s answer to G4S,” Franke-Hyland said. “AMGI, like everything else Clifton touches, was complete sh*t. He is a risk in every sense in the word. His best day is as an incompetent short con that refuses to pay the bills.” 

Battle of Two Chiefs

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 - by C.S. Hagen

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.

American horse while chained to a Dakota Access excavator - online sources

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

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

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 photograph, activists defending themselves - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

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.

sidebarFrost’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.

horse-in-corral-at-big-camp

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 - by C.S. Hagen

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

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

Activists from South America posing at Big Camp, near Cannon Ball, ND – photo by C.S. Hagen

Dakota Access Pipeline – No More Huckleberries

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 weilding 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

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.

Dakota Access Pipeline private security - online sources

Dakota Access Pipeline private security – online sources

“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

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 Jill Stein spray painting "I support this message" on Dakota Access equipment - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

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 photograph, activists defending themselves - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

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

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" giving a speech - photo by C.S. Hagen

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

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.

Sough of 1-94 near Mandan where 22 activists were arrested Tuesday, September 13, 2016 - photo provided by 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 at Shane Balkowitsch studio posing for a wet plate - photo by C.S. Hagen

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.”

American horse while chained to a Dakota Access excavator - online sources

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

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.”

American horse simulating oil in his hands at Shane Balkowitsch studios in Bismarck - photo by C.S. Hagen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The upside-down flag symbolizes distress, yet some activists are calling for the flag to be turned upright. – photo by C.S. Hagen

 

 

 

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