Huffington Post reported today that Federal authorities have halted construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline amid growing protests that were expected to draw some 2,000 U.S. military veterans.
The Department of the Army has denied the final easement required for the $3.8 billion project to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota
In a statement, Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II applauded the news.
“We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing,” he said.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and all of Indian Country “will be forever grateful to the Obama Administration for this historic decision,” Archambault added. He noted his hope that the incoming Trump administration would respect the decision.
Philip George, 37, from the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Ontario, Canada, was among the demonstrators gathered Sunday at Standing Rock. He described the victory as “bittersweet,” something “due to our people for the hundreds of years of genocide and oppression.”
“This fight is part of what’s going on here for centuries,” he told The Huffington Post. “I’m glad they denied the easement, but I don’t know how long this victory will last with Donald Trump being elected president. I’m not sure if he will respect our people and respect our culture. Money can corrupt a man’s heart.”
Within hours of the announcement, Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for America’s oil and natural gas industry, called on Trump to “reject the Obama administration’s shameful actions to deny this vital energy project, restore the rule of law in the regulatory process, and make this project’s approval a top priority as he takes office in January.”
An enormous amount of credit should be given to the warriors that fought, yet again, against an oppressive group working against their interests and well being.
Those men, women, and even children, that were shot at, bitten by dogs, hosed with water cannons and fought in the freezing cold are owed all of our gratitude because they were risking their own safety for us all ( even if many were actually oblivious to it).
I think that it is also telling that this victory for indigenous people took place during this administration.
This likely due to the fact that this was the first administration to be inclusive toward Native Americans.
So a thank you goes to President Obama, a superior President, and thank you to the administration.
Good luck, peace, and health to everyone that supported this effort.
