Tag: Kyle Kirchmeier

The Laney Files: September 2016

The partnership between state law enforcement and private security firm TigerSwan begins

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – Internal documents obtained by the High Plains Reader from the Cass County Sheriff’s Department reveal a disturbing familiarity between state police chiefs and sheriffs with TigerSwan’s analysts and upper echelon.

In early September 2016, oil magnates, private security personnel, and law enforcement cooperated in creating a “rhythm” for moving the Dakota Access Pipeline forward – together.

Four days after security dogs were brought to the front line on September 3, 2016, TigerSwan’s first situation report, on September 7, 2016, made public by The Intercept, stated the private security firm’s initial intentions: to create a clear SOW, or scope of work, to empower a PAO, or strategic command public affairs officer to tell the world that “we [DAPL] are the good guys,” and establish rules for the “Use of Force” for all security elements involved.

“Giddy up”
TigerSwan, a security firm with an extensive background in counterterrorism operations in the Middle East, worked quickly. The day of the attack dogs had attracted too much criticism from media outlets around the world, which echoed 1960s civil rights abuses in Birmingham, Alabama. The elusive security firm had much ground to cover and an agenda to solidify: protect the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

By September 10, 2016, Michael Futch, manager of the Dakota Access Pipeline construction project, currently working with Energy Transfer Partners, began contacting sheriffs around the state, including Mercer County Sheriff Dean Danzeisen, in emails entitled “Operations Planning.”

The plan was moving forward, according to an email forwarded by Danzeisen. On September 12, 2016, another TigerSwan situation report stated that the firm had met with Danzeisen, and had agreed to the “sharing of information.”

“Tomorrow evening you are authorized to release Precision to continue working towards Highway 6 just south of St. Anthony under three conditions,” TigerSwan’s Gary Winkler wrote to Danzeisen later that same day.

Winkler’s conditions in the email stipulated police needed to share written information and scatter sheets with Sweeney on a daily basis. “We need them every evening to plan the next day’s kickoff (starting tonight).

“Using those plans, Shawn Sweeney is able to communicate effectively and timely with law enforcement on a daily and hourly basis. We will avoid any confrontations with protestors, and no dogs are to be used.

Danzeisen, using a private Gmail account, forwarded the demands on to sheriffs and one police chief:

  • Williams County Sheriff Scott Busching, who oversaw county law through the Bakken’s most recent oil boom, resigned his post in April 2017 after 18 years.
  • McKenzie County Sheriff Gary Schwartzenberger, colloquially known as the “terrorist sheriff,” who was suspended from office due to “misconduct, malfeasance, crime in office, neglect of duty or gross incompetence,” along with harassment and intimidation for fostering a “quasi-military environment.” North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum reinstated Schwartzenberger in August 2017, which sparked controversy. Six officers of the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Department left, three in one day, and another officer was fired, according to media reports.
  • Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, a former Marine who ran point on the ground during much of the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy. Laney, president of the North Dakota Sheriffs and Deputies Association, also serves on the board of directors for the North Dakota Association of Counties. He is currently in his third term as an elected peacekeeper, but decided recently that he will not run again.
  • Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, who was the head of law enforcement operations during the Dakota Access Pipeline, coordinated hundreds of law enforcement officials from dozens of agencies across the United States.
  • Stutsman County Sheriff Chad Kaiser feared for his life when he claimed the helicopter he was in was attacked by arrows and buzzed by a drone, according to media reports.
  • Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler, a former Marine who served in the Gulf War, became Mandan’s police chief in 2015.  

Danzeisen is the author of an October 2016 letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and others, claiming Standing Rock activists were armed, hostile, and engaging in training exercises for conducting violence.

“Fall to pieces”
The morning of September 14, 2016 started off with a picture from TigerSwan’s senior vice president, Shawn Sweeney, to Danzeisen. It was a photograph of a Native American holding a drum in one hand and speaking into a handheld radio with the other. The picture was taken at 8:58am, and was sent to Danzeisen seven minutes later through Sweeney’s smartphone, according to email time logs.

Mercer County Sheriff Dean Danzeisen

The fusion between TigerSwan and local law enforcement agencies began before September 12, 2017, according to TigerSwan’s internal situation reports. The timing is confirmed by an email entitled “Protesters in your county,” from Laney on September 14, 2016, to sheriffs involved in the controversy.

“Hello gents,” the email began. “I was asked by DAPL security to drop you a quick line to let you know that earlier today their security personnel in each of your counties were approached by people who identified themselves as protesters of the pipeline, and they wanted to know where they could find the pipeline in your counties.”

DAPL security in North Dakota included companies such as Leighton Security Services, LLC, established in 2011 in Honey Grove, Texas, and 10 Code Security, established in 2010 in Bismarck, and TigerSwan, hired by Energy Transfer Partners as the “fusion leader.”

Stutsman County Sheriff Chad Kaiser

“The protesters that have been doing this aren’t the typical protesters on Standing Rock,” Laney’s email continued. “These protesters, while having some natives mixed in with them, are mostly white hippies. They are the more radical of the groups here and have been the ones attaching themselves to equipment.

“I was told that DAPL security in your area was going to reach out to you directly, but I wanted to give you a heads up in advance.”

From the onset, one goal of TigerSwan was to create dissension within the camps. TigerSwan analysts described a sense of urgency in attempting to obtain information, which was at best difficult, a September 22, 2016 informational report stated.

“As the protester security gains additional knowledge of security tactics and operations, the ability to gather information about planned protests will diminish,” the summary portion of the report stated. “Information control within the camp, despite causing dissension, makes any internal-source information difficult to acquire.”

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier

TigerSwan personnel have years of experience working in counter-terrorism in MENA, or the Middle East and North Africa, West Africa, and other places, according to its website, and the arrival of a small group of Palestinians at the camps disturbed the security firm’s analysts.

“Furthermore, the presence of additional Palestinians in the camp, and the movement’s involvement with Islamic individuals is a dynamic that requires further examination. Currently there is no information to suggest terrorist-type tactics or operations; however, with the current limitation on information flow out of the camp, it cannot be ruled out.”

The cooperation extended beyond DAPL security and law enforcement, according to an email from Michael Futch. Instructions at times originated from Energy Transfer Partners and were sent to TigerSwan personnel, which were then forwarded to law enforcement.

Futch spoke for Energy Transfer Partners in an email on September 14, 2016. In the email, he rained praise on Billy Lambeth, construction manager for “Spread 09,” the pipeline route near Williston, and warned law enforcement of upcoming threats.

McKenzie County Sheriff Gary Schwartzenberger

“Protesters are organizing right now based on what intel Billy has picked up,” Futch wrote in the email entitled “Security in Spread 09.” “Right now he has a security lead on site, and as far as I know we do not have a risk assessment from security and with today’s intel we are now in a rapid response mode.”

Futch continued the email, saying that so far, Spread 09 had been lucky, flying “under the radar,” but Lambeth needed assistance.

“Now that we see a threat, I’m requesting that you make an attempt to work directly with Billy to make sure that safety of workers and continuity of work can be maintained,” Futch wrote. “Billy has a wealth of experience working in dangerous environments, both domestic and international.”

Futch made two requests of law enforcement: first, that threats identified by DAPL security be communicated through Lambeth’s chain of command, and second, to know locations of all law enforcement and security and develop a plan for handling protest activity and evacuation.

Roads needed closing as well, Futch wrote, an idea he mentioned 40 days before Highway 1806 was shut down by law enforcement.

Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney

Under a different email group entitled “Operations Planning,” Futch wrote to Danzeisen, carbon copying Leighton Security Services, TigerSwan personnel, and another DAPL construction manager, asking for police escorts for “unusual loading needs.”

Danzeisen acknowledged 50 minutes after Futch’s email was sent, saying the QRT, or Quick Response Team leader, and himself, needed to be present in order to coordinate staffing and give the “tribe notice so we don’t have a repeat of interference by protester groups.”

Futch agreed. “Make sure to write it up in an email and I will forward to law enforcement and to Precision management to reinforce the expectation. One of the reasons I chose Tuesday. No last minute changes until we are all together.”

“Mike, it is imperative upon the development of the plan that Rick and PPL follow the plan,” Danzeisen responded. “Otherwise it will fall to pieces.”

Precision Pipeline, LLC, or PPL, is a company headquartered in Wisconsin, and was one of the companies awarded contracts to lay pipe by Dakota Access Pipeline, LLC, according to the Pipeline & Gas Journal.

Police gather for a photo opp before a roadblock setup by activists, reports differ on who set the debris on fire – photo provided by online sources

Hit lists
Activists fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline – also known as water protectors – had hit lists, and doxxed police officers, officials report.

The North Dakota State and Local Intelligence Center, or NDSLIC, reported 10 incidents of surveillance tactics used against law enforcement officials from August 21, 2016 until September 4, 2016.

On September 29, 2016, a surveyor on DAPL Spread 6 named Luther Body was also threatened through Facebook messaging services, according to an email sent to Energy Transfer Partners by Dan Junk, of Wood Group Mustang, an energy engineering company in Canada, and then forwarded to authorities.

Law enforcement also made their own list entitled “Groups of Interest.”

Early intelligence was based primarily on Morton County tips from social media, and sighting of individuals of interest including libertarian Nathan Seim, Gabriel Black Elk, and Winona LaDuke, according to an unclassified report compiled by the NDSLIC.

The NDSLIC is the states government’s eyes and mouthpiece, whose mandate is to gather, store, analyze, and disseminate information on crimes, both real and suspected, to law enforcement, government, the community, and private industry regarding drugs, fraud, organized crime, terrorism, and other criminal activity.

The NDSLIC listed media outlet Unicorn Riot, in top place, Native Lives Matter, United Urban Warrior Society, Urban Native Era, Gavin Seim for Liberty, American Indian Movement, Rez Riders, Indigenous Environmental Network. Analysts pointed out Winona LaDuke, founder of Honor the Earth, and Gabriel Black Elk of Native Lives Matter, among others.

“NLM is very similar to Black Lives Matter,” the NDSLIC report stated. “They are often seen mixed in at Black Lives Matter events. NLM is many times more vocal about violence by law enforcement on social media… Many of the issues that NLM focus on pertain to custody deaths and police use of force up to deadly force on Natives.”

LaDuke, an environmentalist, economist, and writer, who ran for Vice President of the United States as the Green Party candidate, stood in the NDSLIC’s crosshairs because she was well known and frequently addressed the needs of the Native environmental movement, desiring to break up the geographical and political isolation of Native communities, and to increase their financial resources.

The NDSLIC also listed Canada’s Idle No More, and the Nation of Islam, under “Groups of Interest.”

“Critical infrastructure” needing protection in the state included the Northern Border Natural Gas Pipeline, which runs adjacent to the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Basin Electric transmission line, North Dakota Highway 1806, Cannon Ball River Bridge, or Backwater Bridge, and the South Central Regional Water District Intake and Treatment Plant.

Law enforcement echoed Energy Transfer Partners’ intent to block off Highway 1806, declaring it a vital access to the “flow of commerce and emergency responders to and from Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

“There is potential for barricades to be setup on or near the bridges to prevent travel of either law enforcement/emergency responders (by protestors) or protesters (by law enforcement),” analysts reported.

Well armed police prepare to clear an area – photo provided by North Dakota Joint Information Center

FW: ***URGENT PRIORITY: Threat of Upcoming Violence this Weekend***
On September 29, 2016, at 11:59am, TigerSwan issued an “urgent priority” report claiming upcoming violence for the following weekend. The threat assessment came from Ashley L. Parsons, a former analyst in TigerSwan’s Houston office, and was sent to TigerSwan personnel in North Dakota, including Kyle Thompson, according to emails.

Thompson is the former Leighton Security Services employee who was carrying an AR-15 automatic assault rifle, the kind used in most mass murders, and was disarmed by activists after reportedly driving a pickup truck at high speed toward the main camp on October 27, 2016, the day the North Treaty Camp was overrun by law enforcement.

Ashley Parsons, the former TigerSwan analyst, switched jobs in April 2017, and began working for National Oilwell Varco, Primerica, according to her LinkedIn profile. She reported seven years active duty military experience in various fields including providing intelligence to private industry, global security, and the oil and gas industries, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has functional knowledge of crisis management and response, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and strategies to counter a “broad range of threats.”

Parsons also self-reported she has active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance.

Sweeney sent Parsons’ information to Danzeisen, who forwarded the email to the group of sheriffs. From there, the scare gained credence; the digital trail led to Lynn Woodall, a captain in the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

“DAPL Security Intel has passed along the following information,” Woodall wrote to 28 recipients.

The next morning at 7:19, Morton County’s Emergency Manager Tom Doering forwarded the same information to 116 others involved in law enforcement, and game wardens, postal service agents, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, NDSU police, U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Intelligence Specialist Terry Van Horn, and other organizations in North and South Dakotas, and Montana.

“Team,” Woodall wrote. The rest of the email was the same content as TigerSwan’s original email. “We have just received information concerning violent protesting that will occur this weekend against DAPL employees. This information was conveyed to us as an imminent threat. Source did not authorize disclosure of identity. Please push this out as urgent to your external networks, i.e. FBI, Homeland Security, even friends of those networks, etc. and really anyone else you feel would be instrumental for rapid-fire collections.”

Sixteen days before the threat assessment was disseminated, Morton County reported 60 activists, including former Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault, had been arrested. By October 13, the numbers arrested slowly swelled to 123, and ten days later arrests skyrocketed to 269.

Nothing, however, happened during the weekend TigerSwan was worried about.

Guardhouse of the Oceti camps blaze – photo by C.S. Hagen

A court meeting
Officials made a careful list of all who attended a meeting between Standing Rock and law enforcement representatives at the Morton County Courthouse. Archambault requested the meeting, but was unable to attend, and sent Greta Baker, Virgil Taken Alive, John Eagle Shield, and Lee Plenty Wolf in his stead.

The representatives were worried about security dogs used by DAPL security teams. Law enforcement, represented by Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, US Marshal Paul Ward, Major General Alan Dohrmann, and Jake O’Connell of the FBI, said the dogs had no connection to law enforcement, and belonged to DAPL’s private security.

When asked why police did not interfere with private security, Kirchmeier responded, saying law enforcement lacked the manpower to do anything, but monitored the situation to “make sure it did not escalate.”

Morton County Sheriff press releases at the time reported DAPL security personnel were injured, but made no mention of activists being bitten. Dogs, according to Angela Bibbens, the camp attorney at that time, bit at least six activists.

Law enforcement denied any knowledge of yellow helicopters flying around the camps, saying they must belong to DAPL’s private security, according to court paperwork.

Direct answers were rarely given during the meeting. Law enforcement asked why children were placed close to front lines, to which Standing Rock representatives answered, saying children, as direct stakeholders, had a right to participate.

Among other topics discussed during the meeting, cultural differences became one Standing Rock representatives attempted to clarify.

“The Representatives claimed that certain statements to the press were inaccurate and asked that LE [law enforcement] verify claims before passing them along to the media,” the court paperwork reported. “The Representatives also explained that carrying a small knife to use as a tool was culturally expected behavior for males among many Indigenous peoples, and should not be assumed to be threatening. Further, among some, a male would be considered less of a man if he was not carrying a knife to use as a tool.”

DAPL Front lines – photo provided by Johnny Dangers

Don’t tell the Indian
Included in documents obtained from Cass County Sheriff’s Department is a Dakota Access Pipeline Project plan for unanticipated discoveries along the pipeline route. Discoveries included cultural resources, human remains, paleontological resources, and contaminated media.

The plan was to be implemented across all lands in North Dakota, regardless of ownership, but not one mention is made throughout the five-page instructional of the request to notify Indigenous cultural liaisons or qualified personnel of culturally relevant findings. If such items as charred spots, arrowheads, stone artifacts, human remains, or paleontological resources were discovered, the sightings were to be reported to archaeologists affiliated with the Secretary of Interior’s Qualification and Standards, or the State Historical Society of North Dakota, within 48 hours.

“Flag the buffer zone around the find spot,” the instructional compiled by Dakota Access Pipeline reported. “Keep workers, press, and curiosity seekers away from the find spot. Tarp the find spot. Have an individual stay at the location to prevent further disturbance until a qualified archaeologist has arrived.”

Other findings, such as contamination including buried drums, discolored soil, chemical or hydrocarbon odors, oily residues, were to be reported to DAPL Project Environmental Manager Monica Howard.

Dakota Access Pipeline retained Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc. and Matthew J. Landt, as the company’s archaeologist, and listed Paul Picha, chief archaeologist with the North Dakota State Historical Society, as another option.

In September this year, Energy Transfer Partners wired $15 million to the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to help with the $43 million the state borrowed to end the resistance camps against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Dakota Access Pipeline personnel also returned to the state earlier this year to hand out paychecks worth hundreds of thousands to first responders in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa.

Citing pending litigation issues, law enforcement agencies refused to comment on questions pertaining to their involvement with TigerSwan.

 

“Cavalry of Peace” is Coming

Thousands of US veterans plan to converge on Standing Rock, elected officials praise Army Corps deadline, and Morton County Sheriff’s Department uses Craigslist as vetted intelligence

By C.S. Hagen
CANNONBALL
– A flurry of activity followed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers threat to Standing Rock that the tribe has 9 days left to evacuate camps situated against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“The letter means nothing to us,” Nick Tilsen, co-founder of the Indigenous People’s Power Project, said. “Indigenous people are here to stay, and we’re not going to move unless it’s on our own terms, because this is our treaty land, this is our ancestral land, and this is where our people have been for thousands of years.”

No one at the camp is fearful, Tilsen said. Months of ceremony and training have eradicated all fear, leaving only a deep love for their people and their land. “Our purpose here is to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

“Any person found to be on the Corps lands north of the Cannonball River after December 5, 2016, will be considered trespassing and may be subject to prosecution under federal, state, and local laws… any person who chooses to stay on these Corps’ lands… does so at their own risk,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District Commander John W. Henderson stated in Friday’s letter.

Despite the deadline, Standing Rock spokesperson Sue Evans said the tribe is determined as ever to protect its land and water.

“The timing of this latest action by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is demoralizing and disrespectful for Native Americans and the millions of peaceful water protectors and supporters in America and across the globe who are standing with Standing Rock to protect the water and 17 million Americans downstream on the river,” Evans said.

The chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Harold Frazier, condemned the deadline, saying the Army Corps “dangerously and profoundly misunderstands the basic function and status of a tribal government and its elected leaders.”

Veterans from around the nation are signing up to travel to Standing Rock on December 5, the final day Oceti Sakowin, or the Seven Council Fires camp is allowed to stand on Army Corps lands.

Governor Jack Dalrymple praised the Army Corps decision, but insisted federal agencies must be responsible for clearing the camps.

“Our state and local law enforcement agencies continue to do all they can to keep private property and public infrastructure free from unpermitted protest activities, and its past time that the federal government provides the law enforcement resources needed to support public safety and to enforce their own order to vacate,” Dalrymple said. “For more than 100 days now, the federal government has allowed protesters to illegally entrench themselves on Corps land and it is the federal government’s responsibility to lead the camp’s peaceful closure.”

The land Dalrymple described is Army Corps land, where Oceti Sakowin was setup. It was originally included in the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty as the tribal land, and taken from the Standing Rock Sioux without consent when it was condemned after devastation from the Pick-Sloan legislation.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp R-N.D., said the Army Corps decision is a relief after more than four months of violence. “The decision by the Army Corps is a needed step to support the safety of residents, workers, protesters, and law enforcement,” Heitkamp said in a press release. “For too long, we have waited in limbo as the decision is put off. This issue needs to be put to rest once and for all for the sake of the safety of our communities.”

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map of the area surrounding Oceti Sakowin

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map of the area surrounding Oceti Sakowin

Eryn Wise, of the Indigenous Youth Council and niece of Ladonna Allard, the woman who began the movement on Sacred Stone Camp, said sanctioned harm against Mother Earth will not be allowed. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers need to realize that these are children we are protecting… and we will continue to make our stand,” Wise said during a press conference.

She questioned the Army Corps creation of a free speech zone. “I just wanted to clarify for everyone, and you guys correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the United States was a free speech zone.”

Dallas Goldtooth, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said the Army Corps letter was a “disgusting continuation” of 500 years of colonization.

“It’s absurd for us to see such a declaration the day after Thanksgiving, but that’s the state of affairs we are in,” Goldtooth said. “This is the land where our ancestors come from, this is the land where our ancestors dreamed of our existence, of our songs, and of our future lives. In defense of our dreams and in defense of our ancestors we stand strong. We stand strong to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth. We stand strong to defend our rights as indigenous peoples, we stand strong to defend our territorial treaty rights.

“We got this,” Goldtooth said. “This is nothing new to us as native people. We’ve been here before and we’ve gotten through this. These are just intimidation statements, things to put us into a reactionary space, and we refuse to be put into a reactionary space.”

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said the foremost action the Army Corps can take to ensure peace is to permanently deny the easement needed for Dakota Access Pipeline to cross the Missouri River at Lake Oahe. Additionally, the Army Corps sent its letter to all tribes involved at Standing Rock, and is trying to pressure the tribe, Archambault said.

“We have an escalating situation where safety is a concern for everybody,” Archambault said. “They’ve given us notice, because they want to reduce their liability when something serious happens.”

The main camp, Oceti Sakowin, is on a floodplain, Archambault said, and leadership is currently planning its next steps. “We’re trying to be proactive for when a situation comes. I don’t think the Army Corps of Engineers will come on the fifth. I don’t think anybody is going to come. The Morton County police would have jurisdiction over these lands if ever there are any crimes taking place. We’re not committing any crimes. If Morton County wanted to, they would be able to come in and move us. I don’t think that will happen.

“What they gave us is a notice that these public lands are no long available for hunting, for fishing, and for recreation, recreation can include camping, but what we’re doing here is exercising our First Amendment right, and we’re not breaking any laws.”

The Army Corps does not have an armed force, so they would have to call in other agencies to forcibly evict. “If it was to happen, we need to be given notice, so we can ensure a lot of the property is not damaged. I don’t think it will be an eviction where forces will come and push people off.”

Tribal leaders reported a total of 748 tribal nations are currently at Standing Rock.

No DAPL sign along Highway 1806 - photo by C.S. Hagen

No DAPL sign along Highway 1806 – photo by C.S. Hagen

Paid Protesters

Citing Craigslist as a vetted source for information, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier called the activists at Standing Rock, “paid protesters.”

“The energy these paid agitators and protesters exerted to try and draw our law enforcement into confrontations did not work,” Kirchmeier said. “We will respond in kind to any advances protesters make on our line. It’s their decision and they can bring an end to this.”

His department added they know the protesters are paid from information on Craigslist in New York and Fargo.

“This is from intel that has come into us from people saying they were paid to Craigslist ads in NY and Fargo asking for people to give up their job and get paid to come to Standing Rock,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Many activists, journalists, photographers, and even the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have asked for donations to assist actions and basic survival against the Dakota Access Pipeline, but such solicitations do not fit the definition of hiring for protest.

Fargo Police Department reported no actions taken at West Acres Shopping Center on November 18, the day an ad in Craigslist appeared calling for people to quit their jobs, be paid USD 1,000, and converge at the shopping mall. Valley News Live Chris Berg reported on the anonymous advertisement on November 16.

“Someone is soliciting to pay #NoDAPL protesters in Fargo via Craigslist,” Berg wrote. “He is inviting people to show up at West Acres Mall…”

The advertisement gave no indication if a male or female posted the advertisement on Craigslist.

Additionally on November 25, a pro DAPL protest advertisement hit Craigslist. “Let’s support DAPL by shutting down the Main Avenue McDonalds on Friday,” the advertisement read. “I will pay $50 to any adults who show up. Come on oil protectors. This is not a hoax this is real.”

The Fargo Police Department had no records of any responses for a pro DAPL protest at McDonalds on Friday.

Morton County has spent more than 10 million tax dollars in its actions against Standing Rock and Supporters, soliciting assistance from nearly 1,300 officers from 25 North Dakota counties, 20 cities, and nine states.

 

Veterans for Standing Rock

Michael James, an Absentee Shawnee, the warrior clan of the Shawnee tribe, is a veteran with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. He’s planning to travel to Oceti Sakowin with Veterans for Standing Rock on December 5.

“Mother Earth is calling her children to help,” James said.

One of the group’s organizers, Michael A Wood Jr., is a retired Baltimore police officer and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. On his Twitter account, Wood posted, “We with #VeteranStandingRock are deploying to prevent this state sanctioned violence on peaceful protectors… We look to be 2,000 strong and need to transition into a continuous operation.

“The Cavalry of Peace is coming.”

Veterans for Standing Rock include the U.S. Army, United States Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard, and are planning to assemble as a “peaceful, unarmed militia” at Standing Rock from December 4 through December 7, according to the group’s Facebook page.

They have a roster of 2,100 people, and told its members to prepare for mace, sound cannons, sniper guns, rubber bullets, attack dogs, concussion grenades, and the effects of hyperthermia. “Bring body armor, gas masks, earplugs, and shooting mufflers (we may be facing a sound cannon) but no drugs, alcohol or weapons.

“Let’s stop this savage injustice being committed right here at home,” the group’s introduction states. “If not us, who? If not now, when? Are you a hero? Are you honorable? Not if you allow this to be the United States.”

Tribal leadership reported at least 1,500 veterans are scheduled to arrive on December 4.

Water and Oil Do Not Mix

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe begins its fight against Dakota Access Pipeline, activists arrested, governor declares emergency state

By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL, ND – The Bakken Pipeline began quietly, leaving few footprints along its legal trail straight into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ lap. Shortly after the 1,172-mile project was green-lighted, protests erupted in western North Dakota. Arrests and lawsuits, calls for peace and threats of violence, followed.

On Friday, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple issued an emergency situation due to civil unrest, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department, and Morton County Commissioners extended the declaration on Monday.

The protest along the pipeline’s route less than one mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation of North Dakota and South Dakota, started on August 10 when tribesmen blocked an access point for Dakota Access, LLC construction crews, effectively forcing workers to leave the area. A total of thirteen arrests were made, but the activists’ war cry did not change – water and oil do not mix.

Within a week the activists’ numbers grew from 200 to more than 2,000 people coming from across the United States and Canada, activists said.

Dakota Access Pipeline - Spirit of Cherry Valley Horses 8-15-2016 1971

Dakota Access Pipeline activists on horseback, Spirit of Cherry Valley – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

On August 15, Dakota Access LLC moved equipment and employees back to the construction route. A hole was cut into a fence, allowing access to more than 50 activists, leading to accounts of broken machinery windows and an assault on a private security worker, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

Activists on horseback charged police, forcing them to retreat from their line, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. More arrests were made. As of Monday, a total of 29 activists, including Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, or the Hunkpapa Oyate, had been arrested, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Of those arrested, 26 were charged for disorderly conduct, and three were charged with criminal trespass. All have since been released.

A standoff between activists and law enforcement ensued.

Police and Highway Patrol guarding their line at the Dakota Access Pipeline Police - photo by Shane Balkowitsch

Law enforcement guarding their line at the Dakota Access Pipeline – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

Divergent movie series heroine Shailene Woodley during a protest in Bismarck, ND - courtesy of online sources

Divergent movie series heroine Shailene Woodley during a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Bismarck, ND – courtesy of online sources

The outcry against big oil attracted Hollywood movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio’s attention, and on August 11 brought Divergent movie series heroine Shailene Woodley to join the protesters.

“The spirits are there, the people are there,” activist Margaret Landin said. “They are empowering each other.”

Tensions are brewing. While Archambault calls demonstrators to peace, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier fears for safety.

Black Land Rovers with tinted windows are parked nearby, watching, activists report. Authorities began investigating two incidents of laser strikes against aircraft conducting surveillance on the protesting encampment, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. The strikes allegedly occurred on August 17 and Sunday, temporarily blinding one pilot, and is considered a federal crime leading to a fine or imprisonment for up to five years or both if convicted.

Six miles south of Mandan, State Highway Patrol troopers closed Highway 1806 to traffic. Cellular phone services have been terminated to the area, activists report. Local parks, campgrounds, boat ramps, and fishing areas have been shut down. Work on the pipeline has been halted. Rumors that construction workers had discovered old Native American burial grounds were not verified.

“We’re trying to provide a line, a safe line for the pipeline people to enter and to go and do their legal work,” Kirchmeier said. “And they were preparing to throw pipe bombs at our line, M-80s, fireworks, things of that nature to disrupt us.

“That, in itself, makes it an unlawful protest. In that area people are compromising the private land down there, and they’re compromising the equipment that is down there.”

Online threats have also been made on social media against the lives of law enforcement officials in the area, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. “We take these comments very seriously,” Kirchmeier said. “We have to take these comments very seriously to protect not only officers’ safety, but residents who live in the area along with those participating in the protest activities. The threats are very concerning.”

Dalrymple’s declaration of an emergency situation was also instituted by fear.

“The State of North Dakota remains committed to protecting citizens’ rights to lawfully assemble and protest, but the unfortunate fact remains that unlawful acts associated with the protest near Cannon Ball have led to serious public safety concerns and property damage,” Dalrymple said in a press release on Friday . “This emergency declaration simply allows us to bring greater resources to bear if needed to help local officials address any further public safety concerns.”

Declaring an emergency situation also allows for the coordinated and effective effort of “appropriate government departments” to minimize the impact of the emergency, according to the executive order issued by Dalrymple. Rumors the National Guard had been called in for support were not verified at press time.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., stressed the importance of protecting the rights of all parties involved, and that she would continue to meet with anyone wanting to discuss the issues.

“As North Dakota continues to reduce its reliance on moving crude by rail, producers will keep looking to pipelines as an important part of our energy infrastructure – both for our state and the nation,” Heitkamp said.

“Just as with any infrastructure project, we need to make sure the Dakota Access Pipeline is thoroughly vetted, reviewed, and if approved has the proper safeguards in place. It’s critical that as federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers review energy infrastructure projects, they follow all applicable environmental requirements, and respect treaty rights and as well as the need for proper consultation with tribal nations.”

Activists and law enforcement - photos by Shane Balkowitsch

Cherry Creek singers with drum and law enforcement – Corey Carson of Elevate Studios, Bismarck

Dr. Sarah Jumping Eagle was among the first people arrested at the encampment. She was released on bail. Jumping Eagle is a mother of three, and a pediatrician at a hospital in Standing Rock.

Dr. Sarah Jumping Eagle

Dr. Sarah Jumping Eagle

“It’s very frustrating seeing the actions by the state, they’re the ones escalating this and spreading misinformation,” Jumping Eagle said. “They’re using falsehoods to find ways to escalate their own agenda.

“Historically, they would hype up in the newspaper, hype up the local people, hype up the police forces, so that basically the Army could come in. That’s the history of the United States. There is no incentive for them to take it down a notch, there’s a financial incentive to make it appear our camp is potentially violent or threatening.

“Yes, we are protesting and protecting the land,” Jumping Eagle said. “But people are doing that in the manner that is consistent with our beliefs.”

On Monday, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the International Indian Treaty Council appealed to the United Nations for assistance, according to media outlet Indian Country.

“We specifically request that the United States Government impose an immediate moratorium on all pipeline construction until the Treaty Rights and Human Rights of the Standing Rock Tribe can be ensured and their free, prior and informed consent is obtained,” Archambault and the Treaty Council said in their petition to the United Nations.

 

The Seventh Generation

Landin joins the protest traveling from her home in Bismarck every other day. Families with infants, the young and the elderly, Native Americans, and people from all races and cultures have gathered in the Dakota prairie. Citizens are donating food, sleeping bags, outdoor chairs, drinking and washing water, Landin said, and she has not seen or heard of pipe bombs or weapons, in fact, protest organizers do not allow weapons, drugs, or alcohol on to the encampment grounds, she said.

“It is an amazing thing to see,” Landin said. “I literally tear-ed up, there are so many people there to support, and it doesn’t even matter your race.”

No firearms, no alcohol, no cameras allowed, photographer and ambrotypist Shane Balkowitsch said. He traveled from Bismarck to photograph the encampment using the wet plate photography technique, a painstaking process where exposures must be quickly developed in a dark room on scene. Balkowitsch was one of the first to photographers on the scene, he said, and he joined the protest to support the friends he met during his recent work on a photography project for for the Historical Society of North Dakota called “Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective.”

“I saw no weapons, no pushing,” Balkowitsch said. “It was a civil and peaceful protest. They are very adamant, very dedicated to this obviously, but being dedicated to something is not a bad thing.

“I was treated with hugs.”

Longtime activist Winona Laduke may ride horseback at Stanley Rock, where the thousands camped at Camp of the Sacred Stone are attracting more support every day. Since nearby highways have been blocked, activists are leading supporters into the area on foot. “They’re trying to put the squeeze on this tribe by blocking the highway to their casino and to the protest. And it has backfired on themselves,” Laduke said.

The ‘squeeze’ is not working.

As the executive director of the Native American environmental group Honor the Earth, and twice Ralph Nader’s Green Party vice presidential candidate, Laduke traveled from her home at White Earth Reservation in Minnesota and stayed two days at the encampment. Friday night during a rainstorm, more than 800 people ate dinner at the tribe’s Prairie Knights Casino, Laduke said. “It’s having a booming business. And this talk about pipe bombs is just not true. They’re using [smoking] pipes. I even brought my pipe down there. There are no bombs, no weapons.”

Activists at the Dakota Access Pipeline - by Police guarding their line at the Dakota Access Pipeline Police - photo by Shane Balkowitsch

Speaker giving talk to activists, or protectors, at the Dakota Access Pipeline – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

Laduke spent her birthday at the encampment, among the rolling prairie hills where she could imagine the buffalo that once roamed freely. Nestled against the Missouri River – the mother river – Laduke said it was the best birthday present she could have hoped for.

Winona Laduke

Winona Laduke

“I picked sage, sat in my tipi, and joined in with about 40 people younger than me,” Laduke said. “That is a pretty good birthday present to myself.”

Landin noticed a difference in the protesters, a difference that invokes an ancient prophecy.

“It is the youth,” Landin said. “The youth are really standing up and speaking out. They are a different generation. They are the Seventh Generation.”

The Seventh Generation, descendants of those forced into reservations approximately 140 years ago, are supposed to set rights to wrongs, Landin said. The principle is more than legend or prophecy; it is recorded in the Iroquois Great Law of Peace.

Besides being involved in the protest, young activists, or protectors as activists call themselves, participated in a relay footrace from western North Dakota to Washington DC called “Run for Our Water” earlier in 2016, and then joined protests before the US Supreme Court and at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

 

The Pipeline

Despite Standing Rock Sioux objections, the Bakken Pipeline, officially known as the Dakota Access Pipeline, began in May 2016, and if finished will snake through the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, where it will join up with a second 774-mile pipeline to Nederland, Texas. More than 570,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil will pass through the pipeline per day after it is finished third quarter 2016, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Oil Pipeline - Grand Forks Herald

Oil Pipeline – Grand Forks Herald

The Dakota Access LLC pipeline, which is a joint venture between Enbridge Energy Partners LP and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, would also span 200 water crossings, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission, and in North Dakota alone would pass through 33 historical and archeological sites. Initially, the pipeline was to run north of Bismarck, but because it proved to be a potential threat to Bismarck’s wellhead source water protection areas, the route was cancelled and relocated to its current course, less than a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

According to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee, who for the sake of his job wished to remain anonymous, a safe oil pipeline does not exist. Erosion by time, plate tectonics, natural disasters, shoddy workmanship or faulty parts, and cutting corners to fill big oil coffers are part of any pipeline recipe.

Since 2010, more than 3,300 incidents of crude oil and liquefied natural gas leaks or ruptures have occurred in pipelines within the United States, according to the Center for Effective Government. The incidents have killed 80 people, injured 389, and have created $2.8 billion in damages, not to mention the lingering effect on humans, and the release of toxic chemicals into soil, waterways, and air. Nearly one third of the spills since 2010 came from pipelines carrying crude oil, as the Dakota Access Pipeline plans to carry.

In 2010, the first year after the Keystone pipeline was completed, 35 leaks were discovered, according to Earthjustice, an environmental law organization.

Dave Archambault II

Dave Archambault II

In a statement from Archambault on August 16, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said the issue is not only a Lakota or Dakota issue, but it is a human issue.

“I am here to advise anyone that will listen that the Dakota Access Pipeline project is harmful,” Archambault said. “It will not be just harmful to my people but its intent and construction will harm the water in the Missouri River, which is one of the cleanest and safest river tributaries left in the Unit States. To poison the water is to poison the substance of life. Everything that moves must have water.

“How can we talk about and knowingly poison water?”

 

Legal Warriors

On July 27, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe represented by Earthjustice filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claiming that the project violated the “National Historic Preservation Act” by endangering river waters and by authorizing the construction of the pipeline underneath Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri River, approximately half a mile upstream from the tribe’s reservation. In the lawsuit, the tribe sought an injunction against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in addition to a full inspection of compliance, and a declaration that the corps’ authorizations for the pipeline were in violation of the reservation’s rights according to the two Treaties of Fort Laramie in 1851 and 1868.

Activists at the Dakota Access Pipeline - Police guarding their line at the Dakota Access Pipeline Police - photo by Shane Balkowitsch

Gathering crowd at the Dakota Access Pipeline  – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

“The current proposed route across Lake Oahe a half of a mile upstream of the tribe’s reservation boundary, where any leak or spill from the pipeline would flow into the reservation,” the lawsuit said. “The tribe and its members have been deeply concerned about the potential impacts of the Lake Oahe crossing since its inception.”

The tribe, according to the lawsuit, relies on the lake for drinking water for thousands of people, and for irrigation, fishing, recreation, and for cultural and religious practices. “An oil spill from the pipeline into Lake Oahe would cause an economic, public health and welfare, and cultural crisis of the greatest magnitude,” according to lawsuit documents.

Fearing bodily injury to Dakota Access LLC employees and contractors, the oil company struck back, filing restraining orders on August 15 and seeking monetary damages against members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

Meanwhile, other issues are piling up for Dakota Access LLC.

On July 20 Enbridge Energy Partners LLP was ordered by the Justice Department and the EPA to pay $177 million for its responsibility in the 2010 Michigan Tar Sands Spill. Enbridge spent six years and more than one billion dollars in cleanup efforts, but the area was not restored, according to media outlet Bold Nebraska.

After spending millions, and wasting years battling for approval of a Bakken crude oil pipeline across Minnesota, Enbridge Energy Partners LLP switched gears, joining with Marathon Petroleum Corporation to run a different pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline, through North Dakota, a state that is far less strict on environmental issues than Minnesota. The Minnesota Sandpiper pipeline has been put on the back burner until 2019, according to Enbridge, and analysts predict the project will never be resurrected.

In Iowa where work on the pipeline is underway, three fires erupted causing heavy damage to equipment and causing an estimated $1 million in damages. Investigators suspect arson, according to Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty.

In October 2015, three Iowa farmers sued Dakota Access LLC and the Iowa Utilities Board in an attempt to prevent the use of eminent domain on their properties to construct the pipeline.

Dakota Access LLC personnel did not return telephone calls by press time.

 

More Dirty Blankets

Tribal leaders claim the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not discuss the pipeline project adequately.

“The tribe has never been able to participate meaningfully in assessing the significance of sites that are potentially affected by the project,” the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe lawsuit stated.

The Standing Rock Tribal Historic Preservation Office received a generic letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking consultation on February 12, 2015 pertaining to bore hole testing, according to the lawsuit documents.

Tribal leaders objected, but received no response until September 16, 2015, when a second letter stated the consultation process ended on January 18, 2015, according to lawsuit documents. Again, tribal leaders objected, demanding joint consultation and a class III survey in conjunction with tribal archeologists.

Camp of the Sacred Stone at Cannon Ball, ND - Police guarding their line at the Dakota Access Pipeline Police - photo by Shane Balkowitsch

Camp of the Sacred Stone at Cannon Ball, ND – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

Instead of addressing concerns, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ next step was to publish a draft environmental assessment that did not include a single mention of the potential impacts of the pipeline project to the tribe, according to lawsuit documents.

Not until February 2016 did the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Colonel John Henderson begin discussions with Standing Rock Sioux tribal leaders. Several visits were made, at which point tribal archeologists showed military personnel shards of bone and pottery that had been pushed from the ground by burrowing moles.

On April 22, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ response was to make the formal finding that “no historic properties were affected,” according to lawsuit documents.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disagreed, stating that investigators followed procedure.

“The Corps conducted formal government-to-government consultation with tribal representative via meetings; site visits; distribution of pertinent information; conference calls, and emails in order to inform tribal governments and private members, and to better understand their concerns.

“All information received during the … process was considered during the Corps decision-making process. Ultimately, the District made a ‘No Historic Properties Affected’ determination.”

Historically, British and American governments have deceived Native Americans by many means, through trick, by trade, and according to some, with biological warfare.

In 1763, a British captain gave smallpox-infested blankets to Ottawa Native American warriors. The account is documented in the journal of William Trent, a local trader who had close dealings with British soldiers.

“Out of our regard for them, we gave them two blankets and a handkerchief out of the smallpox hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect,” Trent wrote in his journal on June 24, 1763.

Carl Waldman’s Atlas of North American Indian described the same instance, but in a different light. “… Captain Simeon Ecuyer had bought time by sending smallpox-infected blankets and handkerchiefs to the Indians surrounding the fort – which started an epidemic among them.”

Historians estimate three-quarters of the Native American population in the Ottawa area died from smallpox outbreaks after taking the blankets, according to media outlet Indian Country. Many agree that germs annihilated Native Americans, and not the “white man with guns.”

An unsubstantiated instance allegedly occurred in June 1837 when the U.S. Army began to dispense trade blankets to Mandan tribal people at Fort Clark along the Missouri River in North Dakota, according to the History News Network. The blankets were said to have come from a military smallpox infirmary in St. Louis, and brought upriver aboard the steamboat St. Peter’s. When the Native Americans showed symptoms of the disease, fort doctors allegedly told them to scatter and seek sanctuary with healthy relatives.

No matter how disease was introduced to the Mandan tribe in 1837, more than 100,000 Mandan Native Americans died from smallpox pandemic between 1836 and 1840, according to historians.

Closer to home, the events from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota during 1890 and the 1970s have further exacerbated mistrust between the U.S. government and the Lakota people. In 1890, Sitting Bull, a holy man and leader of the Lakota, was killed during the Ghost Dance movement at Wounded Knee. Later that year the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounded another band of Ghost Dancers slaughtering 150 Lakota tribesmen.

"The Grand River at Sitting Bull's Cabin" on Grand River, about 100 yards from where Sitting Bull was gunned down. The Grand River is a tributary of the Missouri River - photo by Shane Balkowitsch

“The Grand River at Sitting Bull’s Cabin” about 100 yards from where Sitting Bull was gunned down. The Grand River is a tributary of the Missouri River – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch taken on July 9, 2016 accompanied by Ernie LaPoint great grandson of Sitting Bull

In 1970, the American Indian Movement known as AIM occupied the Wounded Knee holy site, sparking a 71-day siege by federal agents. Two Native Americans were killed, and one federal officer was paralyzed during altercations. In 1975, AIM activists killed two FBI agents during the “Pine Ridge Shootout.”

Additionally, in 1944, the Pick-Sloan Plan for flood control of the Missouri River gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the authority to build 107 dams, effectively forcing the relocation of nearly 1,000 Native American families. Later in 1946, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on the Fort Randall Dam in South Dakota, which in turn flooded 22,091 acres of Yankton Sioux land and forced 136 families to move elsewhere. According to online reports when the tribes affected informed the Department of Interior, government officials told them to start looking for new homes.

Again, in 1948, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction of the Oahe Dam, near to the demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline today. The project destroyed 90 percent of the timberland on the Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux reservations, and is known by some as the most destructive public works project in US history.

In 1959, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on the Big Bend Dam in South Dakota, on lands belonging to the Crow Creek Sioux and the Lower Brule Sioux. The project took away 21,026 acres of Sioux land, and flooded the town of Lower Brule. In 1960, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filed a condemnation suit against the Crow Creek Sioux and the Lower Brule Sioux to obtain the land. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was allowed to take title of the land.

For more than 130 years in the Black Hills, South Dakota, gold miners, and in recent history the Homestake Mine, poisoned river waters with sulfur, mercury, aluminum, cadmium, copper, iron, selenium, lead, and arsenic through Native American, private, state, and federal lands, according to a 2005 report filed by the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Services, and the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. The aftereffects of a century of gold and lead mining are toxic to flora and fauna, according to the report. Starting in 2005, efforts were being made to restore the areas affected along the Whitewood Creek, the Belle Fourche, and the Cheyenne rivers, and the Homestake Mining Company of California, Inc. ceased mining and production in 2001.

Whitewood Creek flows into the Belle Fourche River, which flows into the Cheyenne River, which flows into the Missouri River at Oahe Reservoir, according to the report.

“Whitewood Creek is an example of gross environmental degradation tacitly condoned by public apathy…” the report stated. “Once pollutants were no longer discharged, the ecosystem repaired itself, a tribute to its resilience… this story has not reached its conclusion… and the potential for future problems with heavy toxicity are real.”

The poisoning, swallowing, and destruction of Native American lands not only forced tribesmen to move, it crippled their way of life, their hunting and fishing grounds, their chance to sow crops on once fertile soil, their spiritual practices pertaining to ancient burial grounds, and further impoverished those living on reservations, government reports and activists said.

With such a historical pattern of deception and at times brute force, it is little wonder why Native Americans distrust anything government officials say, activists said.

Dakota Access Pipeline activists - Police guarding their line at the Dakota Access Pipeline Police - photo by Shane Balkowitsch

Dakota Access Pipeline activists gathering – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

“Native people including the Lakota, have no experience with the United States keeping its word, or that of corporations keeping their words,” Laduke said. “It is time for people to start keeping their words. They have a treaty right to that water.

“Corporations have more rights than people and eco-systems,” Laduke said. “These corporations need to be challenged. I am not afraid of them, and we all should not be afraid of corporations. They need to be put in their place.”

Although Jumping Eagle has charges hovering over her head, she is not daunted.

Jumping Eagle, an Oglala Sioux who married into the Standing Rock tribe, lives and works there, and she did not plan on getting arrested. A court date has been set, but she is not daunted. Instead, she plans to create hand-washing stations at the encampment.

“This is not something I take lightly, I keep it in mind, but I want to be able to protect the land and water. This is a crucial time. For too long we’ve allowed corporations to be more important than people. The company and the police are protecting the interests of an oil company directly violating the rights of people. We’ve already suffered enough. The fact that they want to place the pipe just north of our community when we are already dealing with so many other issues that could threaten our drinking water, and put us into a situation like Flint, and people will have to buy water? Is not right.

Activists on horseback and along their line - photos by Shane Balkowitsch

Activists on horseback and along their line – Corey Carson of Elevate Studios, Bismarck

“They think they can do whatever they want,” Jumping Eagle said. Not only is she active against Dakota Access Pipeline, she has also worked on other environmental issues ranging from new North Dakota Health Council regulations permitting the increased storage of oilfield waste – radioactive materials and chemicals – to fighting local uranium mines. “They think we are expendable or without a voice, without a choice. Going across Standing Rock land is against the treaty. But people don’t want to think about it. People want to trust their officials. The arguments they make are just trying to reassure themselves.”

Despite the deck being heavily stacked against her and her family, her tribe, and anyone living near or depending on the Missouri River or its tributaries for sustenance, Jumping Eagle remains hopeful that one day, things will change.

“Our concerns are never going to change.”

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