Tag: Highway 1806

United Nations Denounces North Dakota State Government

Sweet crude oil preparing to flow through the Dakota Access Pipeline as work finishes, a look at the financials and Russian steel origins behind the pipeline

By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL
– Bakken oil could be flowing through the Dakota Access Pipeline within a week, but Standing Rock still hopes for a legal miracle as the United Nations condemns what it calls widespread discrimination and North Dakota’s militarized responses.  

As Standing Rock’s legal options diminish, an injunction filed by the Cheyenne River Tribe, part of the Great Sioux Nation, was once again turned down  by federal judges on Tuesday. Previous injunctions filed by the tribe to stop pipeline construction have also been denied by US District Judge James E. Boasberg, citing the the tribe waited too long to bring up the claim under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz stated on Monday that Native Americans have the right to defy undue pressures by extractive projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline. In a scathing report, Tauli-Corpuz said the United Nations is concerned about the safety of indigenous peoples, their cultures, their sacred sites, and their human rights issues in the United States. 

During her human rights mission for the United Nations, Tauli-Corpuz said she discovered widespread discrimination at local and national levels. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was not consulted as a sovereign nation. 

“In the context of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the potentially affected tribes were denied access to information and excluded from consultations at the planning stage of the project,” Tauli-Corpuz said. “Furthermore, in a show of disregard for treaties in the federal cross responsibility, the Army Corps approved a draft environmental assessment regarding the pipeline that ignored the interests of the tribe. 

“The draft made no attempt of proximity to the reservation or the fact that the pipeline would cross historic treaty lands of a number of tribal nations. In doing so the draft environmental assessment treated the tribe’s interest as nonexistent, demonstrating the flawed current process.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continually dismissed risks and did not conduct an adequate cultural assessment before authorizing the pipeline to cross Lake Oahe or authorized the dumping of materials and waste into waters on Indian reservations, Tauli-Corpuz said. The Army Corps utilized a loophole in environmental assessment laws by fast tracking permits, and after the agency approved an environmental assessment study earlier this year, it backtracked and issued the final easement permit. 

Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak has stated that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was contacted from the beginning of the pipeline planning stages.

The problem is not contained only to Standing Rock, but widespread throughout the USA, Rauli-Corpuz said.

In addition to local and federal government dismissiveness, Native Americans face the full force of negative health impacts from extraction, with rising levels of heavy metals in water and contamination in livestock from spills, faulty well construction, and the effects of frakking, or toxic and non-biodegradable discharges into surface waters. The oil boom has also enticed thousands of oil and gas workers creating an “incredible increase” of human trafficking, drugs, and sex crimes, Tauli-Corpuz said. 

Highway 1806 – photo by C.S. Hagen

“The trauma accumulated as a result of a the largely discriminatory policies of the government toward Indian tribes and individuals since first contact and today, still results in distrust of government initiatives and poor health outcomes for Indian individuals,” Tauli-Corpuz said.  

Her research showed that government, rather than people, have the final say in matters related to Native Americans, and “it is imperative the federal government properly consult before encroaching on indigenous lands,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

With few legal options left to halt Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access, LLC, Standing Rock and supporters are preparing to march in Washington DC on March 10 at the Native Nations Rise campaign. 

Activists preparing to leave pause on the Cannon Ball Bridge on Highway 1806 – photo by C.S. Hagen

“They want us to believe that the fight is over,” Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a press release. “But we can still win this. We can unite in peaceful, prayerful resistance against this illegal pipeline.” 

Officials plan to reopen the tribe’s main artery, Highway 1806, by March 13 if there is “no identifiable threat from protesters to block the highway,” the North Dakota Joint Information Center reported. 

Boom 

The North Dakota political machine has been repeatedly rated one of the worst in the United States for transparency by political watchdogs such as The Center for Public Integrity, and its reactions toward the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy have been scrutinized by press from around the world. 

Before pipeline construction began, a 78-page assessment report was compiled by Iowa-based Strategic Economics Group, Inc., written by Harvey Siegelman, Mike Lipsman, and Dan Otto, for Energy Transfer Partners. 

The pipeline companies promised jobs, growth, and stability, according to the November 12, 2014 report entitled Assessment of the Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.

The report states that the pipeline project would create approximately 32,721 job-years – amount of work done by one person for one year. An average salary per worker was listed as $57,000 a year. “The increase in employment will generate a $1.9 billion increase in labor income, and a nearly $5 billion increase in production and sales in the region,” the report stated. 

After the pipeline is finished, 160 ongoing jobs will be added to the economy in North Dakota, generating $11 million in labor income and more than $23 million in new production and sales per year, the report promised. 

The pipeline was planned to cost Dakota Access, LLC $1.4 billion in North Dakota, of that amount an estimated $655.9 million, or 47 percent totaling $397 million, was planned to result in direct and indirect purchases in North Dakota. 

The total impact of the pipeline project in North Dakota was expected to add nearly 7,700 job-years of employment, generate more than $450 million in labor income, and add about $1.05 billion to the production and sales within the state, according to the report. Additionally, the state was to benefit by receiving revenues of approximately $32.9 million in taxes, of which $1.7 was for local governments, and $5.9 million from individual income taxes. During the first year of operation the state is slated to receive $13.1 million in new property taxes for local governments. 

The construction state of the pipeline was expected to generate $9.6 billion in total output nationally, but only half of that, $4.96 billion in output, or production and sales, would be captured in the four-state area. “That is because many of the manufacturers of products that will ultimately be purchased for this project are located outside of this region,” the report states. 

More than two years after the report was written, one of the authors, Lipsman, said he felt that the report will prove accurate, but that at least two more years were needed for government agencies to compile all the necessary information. 

“Obviously there’s been a lot more spent by Dakota Access because of all the slowdown,” Lipsman said. “Initially, we thought the construction would take two years, and then we came back and they said it would take one year, but with all the delays it’s now in the second year.”

Crews moved from state to state, Lipsman said, and although the actual number of people on the job might be less than what Strategic Economics Group, Inc. reported, he calculated job hours, and not actual personnel numbers.

“Especially since they were doing this so fast a lot of people got significant overtime, Lipsman said. “When we did ours in job years, the actual number of people who were on the project might be less than what we forecasted, but that was because we assume a 40-hour week, but if someone is working 15 to 20 hours of overtime you have less bodies but still as much labor going in.”

The Dakota Access Pipeline used less than 57 percent American-made steel, according to the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now, an industry group lobbying for completion of the pipeline. Despite President Trump’s executive order demanding pipes to be made from American-manufactured steel, most if not all of the steel pipes planned for the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL projects have already been purchased. Piles of steel tubes are scattered throughout the Midwest. 

Dakota Access, LLC pipes – online sources

“Much of the steel for the Dakota Access project appears to have been manufactured in Canada by EVRAZ North America, a subsidiary of the Russian steel giant Evraz,” according to DeSmog, a news outlet focused on global warming misinformation campaigns. 

EVRAZ is owned in part by Roman Abramovich, a Russian multi-billionaire who assisted President Vladimir Putin into office in the late 1990s, according to DeSmog. The company’s management team is nearly all Russian nationals and former government workers, which should send red flags up with all American companies. 

For the 2013-2014 fiscal year, Abramovich reported a record profit of £18 million, according to media outlet Journal Star.  

Bakken oil production saw its “largest decline ever in North Dakota production” in September 2016, pumping out 895,330 barrels per day, according to media outlet Oil Price. Production of oil rebounded to 942,455 barrels in December 2016. The price of North Dakota sweet crude was up slightly in January to $40.75, and in February up again to $42.50 per barrel, which is a far cry from the all-time high in 2008 of $136.29 per barrel, according to Oil Price.

Winona LaDuke, a longtime activist and founder of Honor the Earth, disagrees with the math behind Bakken oil. She was part of the fight that shut down Enbridge’s Keystone Pipeline, and says that since Enbridge is an approximately 28 percent investor in the Dakota Access Pipeline, or as she says the Dakota Excess Pipeline, Enbridge should also be responsible for 28 percent of the injuries that occurred outside of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. 

LaDuke says the Bakken oil patch is busted, and the state should be focused more on infrastructure on people rather than for companies. More people today are employed in solar energy facilities than in oil patches, LaDuke said, and the future does not rest with fossil fuels. 

Government projections estimate 900,000 barrels of oil will be hauled out of the Bakken per day until 2019. “What I’m trying to figure out is where’s the oil for the 570,000 barrels a day pipeline you are shoving down our throats? All the oil going out of there now, is the same that will be going out of there in two years.” 

 

The workforce and mineral rights

On the ground reporting, live streaming videos, and reports from activists in the field rarely reported seeing local license plates on Dakota Access Pipeline vehicles, semis, or trucks. And while the state has been quite content bringing in outside companies, supplies, and an out-of-state workforce for the project, its response has shown contempt against all outside activists fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The North Dakota Joint Information Center frequently posts updates on arrests, identifying repeatedly that out of the 761 people arrested, 94 percent were not from North Dakota. 

Former main entrance to Oceti Sakowin blockaded against police advance – photo by C.S. Hagen

On the construction side of the pipeline, Pam Link, director of governmental relations and new business development for the Laborer’s International Union of North America Local #563, said business couldn’t be better. In 2016, Local #563 had from 400 to 600 union members working on the Dakota Access Pipeline.  

“A vast majority of them were North Dakotans,” Link said. Most of the jobs were short term, but members are already back at work across the state, she said. Her union currently has approximately a dozen workers involved at the drill pad crossing the Missouri River. “We have massive work going on, starting right now, it’s unbelievable, how busy we will be, it’s unbelievable how much work we have.”

Link wouldn’t say if the work load increase was due to changes made by Trump’s Administration, but said in 2016 her union was focused primarily on the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Local #49 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Laborer’s International Union of North America Local 300, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, among others, also had members working on the pipeline, according Link. None replied to telephone calls for comment. 

“A larger percentage of positions in the earlier phases of oil development are shorter term or transient in nature, but as more wells are added, more people will be needed to service and maintain those wells,” Tessa Sandstrom, the director of communications for the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said.  

Not including transportation and construction jobs, the Bakken workforce has increased from 5,000 jobs in 2005 to 81,500 in 2013, Sandstrom reported. Numbers began to decline in 2015, but “they will still be a pretty big chunk of North Dakota’s total workforce,” Sandstorm said. 

“The petroleum industry will continue to provide economic, tax, employment, and energy security benefits well into the future of North Dakota,” Sandstorm said. “The Dakota Access Pipeline will play a large part in that because it will make transporting North Dakota crude more economic which means we will get a better price for the barrel.”

Pipeline oil will decrease the cost of transportation per barrel, allowing the state to accumulate at least $100 million or more per year if total oil prices do not sink lower than $50 per barrel, Sandstrom said. While the pipeline controversy cost the state more than $38.2 million taxpayer dollars, according to information released Tuesday by the North Dakota Joint Information Center, the state could easily see its investment paid back through pipeline taxes. 

“It’s easy for detractors to immediately jump to this as being only a benefit for the oil companies, but it, in fact, is a boon to the state and mineral owners as well. Mineral owners would stand to gain between $100 to $120 million per year because of this pipeline”

“In terms of businesses benefitting from oil and gas development, it is not a few local drillers who benefit from the work here,” Sandstorm said. 

North Dakota has more than 400 individuals and 115 companies or independent contractors who are involved in the drilling and well production processes in the Bakken, Sandstorm said. There are also 117 certified native-owned companies that provide oil and gas development services. According to a 2014 study made public by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, more than 876 business in North Dakota are part of the larger oil and natural gas supply chain. 

“These aren’t just the stereotypical roughnecks or roustabouts either,” Sandstorm said. “These positions, businesses, and contractors range from the skilled trades, such as electricians, to engineers and from human resources professionals to legal and environmental consultants.”

Exact numbers of people employed or those who are benefitting from the Dakota Access Pipeline, such as mineral rights owners,  are at best difficult to pin down. At the height of the state’s most recent oil “boom” from 2010 until 2014, the state’s population increased by 66,000, according to the North Dakota Census Office. 

Gary Preszler, chairman for National Host Production Deduction Committee and former commissioner for North Dakota Land Management, also owns a large mineral interest in Billings County, from  which he said the royalty payments have put his children through college.

“The average mineral owner is not going to get wealthy from their checks, because wells deplete and start producing less and less,” Preszler said. “The average mineral owner is not going to have any life-changing windfall. They might improve their lifestyle a little bit.”

The average mineral rights owner is a retired elderly person receiving $50 a month, he said. 

The history of mineral rights in North Dakota is confusing even to oil company accountants, and many mistakes have been made in the past, Preszler said. The puzzle dates back to the 1930s Great Depression when many farmers and ranchers sold their mineral rights to survive. 

At the beginning, the state kept five percent of the mineral rights giving 95 percent to purchasers, then in the late 1940s, the state began keeping 50 percent, then 100 percent in the 1960s, Meszler said. Farm credit service banks and the state-owned Bank of North Dakota also own mineral rights in western North Dakota’s oil-rich lands from foreclosures, and typically keep 50 percent mineral rights when land is resold. Professional oil workers and oil companies also have purchased mineral rights directly from landowners. 

Today, third generation cousins scattered across the United States and oblivious to their ownership titles also are heirs to mineral rights, Preszler said. 

“When you’re a mineral owner, it’s not all the sudden the money pours in,” he said. Oil price swings, production tapering, and mechanical failures fluctuate royalty checks. Sometimes, “You go that mailbox for the month and there’s nothing there,” Preszler said.

The Minerals Management Division of the Department of North Dakota Trust Lands manages 2.567 million mineral acres throughout the state, of which 1.215 million mineral acres are in the oil and gas producing counties, and another 1.352 million acres are in non-producing counties. Schools and other trusts own 1.84 million acres, and foreclosed properties formerly managed by the Bank of North Dakota and Sovereign Lands make up the remaining 728,000 mineral acres.

The state of North Dakota covers 45,250,560 acres, according to North Dakota Studies, of which, including some acreage in South Dakota, 4,689,920 acres are on Native American reservations. The Bakken oil patch, in its entirety, spans approximately 15,360,000 acres.

While some in the Peace Garden State may be profiting from Bakken oil and the Dakota Access Pipeline, few think about the long term environmental and sociological effects, the reason behind Standing Rock’s resistance against the pipeline. Additionally, the United Nations wants the state to pay more attention to those who are to a large degree not profiting from the oil “boom.” 

“The United States government should fully realize the rights of indigenous peoples as enshrined in the UN declaration and the rights of indigenous peoples, and i strongly recommend that the United States government continue to improve on its policies to develop stronger government and government relations with the tribes,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

The Law Strikes Back

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

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

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

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.  

Stripped, But Still Standing Strong

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 verses activists on Dakota Plains Oct. 22 - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

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.

saturday-october-23-direct-action-photo-by-rob-wilson-photography

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

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.

saturday-october-23-direct-action-photo-by-rob-wilson-photography

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

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

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.

mcaleer

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

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

Barricade across Highway 1806 built by activists on Sunday, Oct. 23, later torn down at request – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department

 

 

 

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