Marc Ash / Reader Supported News & Amy Goodman / Democracy now! & Josh Nelson / CREDO Action & Matt Agorist / MintPress News – 2016-09-05 23:11:31
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/38972-focus-unarmed-dakota-pipeline-protesters-withstand-dogs-and-mace-drive-back-enbridge-security-forces
Unarmed Dakota Pipeline Protesters Withstand
Dogs and Mace, Drive Back Enbridge Security Forces
Marc Ash / Reader Supported News
Protesters come face to face to with pipeline industry security dogs. 6 protesters were treated for dog bite injuries.
(September 5, 2016) — The bulldozers returned to the site of the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline project Saturday. The protesters, anchored by Standing Rock Sioux tribal activists, rallied quickly to defend “the land.†The result was a chaotic confrontation between white private security forces armed with mace and attack dogs and an unarmed multi-ethnic coalition of Americans determined to stop them in their tracks.
The all-white security personnel did not hesitate to use their mace, and unleash the dogs. Multiple protesters were treated at the scene for pepper spray exposure and dog bites. The snouts and mouths of the dogs could be seen smeared with human blood. Security forces claim four security personnel and two dogs were injured.
The protesters did not back down. Withstanding the attacks and risking personal injury, they advanced toward security, dogs, and bulldozers alike, demanding the work cease and the Enbridge personnel depart.
The construction site quickly took on the feel of a battlefield. Skirmishes erupted around the newly plowed mounds and trenches, with cameras and reports from Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! rolling.
As it became clear that the protesters would not be intimidated, Enbridge security reigned in their dogs and began to withdraw, finally departing in their pickup trucks and SUVs.
The Dakota Access Pipeline, also known as the Bakken Pipeline System, is backed by a murky affiliation of energy industry players including Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., Energy Transfer Partners, L.P, Marathon Petroleum Corp., and Sunoco Logistics Partners, L.P., with Enbridge playing a central role.
Late last week, Enbridge announced it was rolling up the separate but related Sandpiper Pipeline project in the face of heavy protests and mounting losses.
Also last week, the City of Minneapolis passed a City Council resolution in support of the indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation. It was the third such municipal resolution to be passed. St. Paul and Seattle have passed similar resolutions recently.
This most recent confrontation and the violence surrounding it are likely to strengthen the resolve of those standing in defiance of the Dakota Access Pipeline. If the fate of the Keystone XL and Sandpiper pipelines is any indicator, local resistance may yet again prevail.
Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
ACTION ALERT: Tell President Obama
To Stop the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline
Josh Nelson / CREDO Action
September 3, 2016, A pipeline industry security stands at the ready with a dog. (photo: Tomasalejo)
The petition to President Obama reads:
“The Dakota Access pipeline would fuel climate change, cause untold damage to the environment, and significantly disturb sacred lands and the way of life for Native Americans in the upper Midwest. Direct the US Army Corps of Engineers to revoke the permits under ‘Nationwide Permit 12’ and stop the Dakota Access pipeline once and for all.”
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/NoDAPL
(September 2, 2106) — It’s Keystone XL all over again: The US Army Corps of Engineers has granted approval for a dirty oil pipeline that would stretch over 1,100 miles through the upper Midwest.
The Dakota Access pipeline would carry 450,000 barrels of dirty oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois and cut through fragile wildlife habitat, environmentally sensitive areas, and sovereign tribal property.
Worse, the pipeline would cross under the Missouri River, threatening drinking water downstream if a catastrophic oil spill occurs.
Led by the Standing Rock Sioux, a massive wave of inspiring grassroots opposition is building, with protests and civil disobedience temporarily halting construction in recent days. But construction is moving forward, and is scheduled to be completed soon.
President Obama must intervene now and stop the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Tell President Obama: Stop the Dakota Access pipeline. Click here to sign the petition.
The Army Corps of Engineers granted the Dakota Access pipeline’s permits using a controversial fast-tracking process called “Nationwide Permit 12” that allows the Corps to essentially rubber-stamp pipeline projects on private property or Native American lands with little environmental review and no meaningful public input.
The Corps incorrectly applied this fast-track process in conflict with numerous federal laws and agreements, including the “Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, as well as federal trust responsibilities guaranteed in the 1851 and 1868 United States treaties with the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes.”
The Standing Rock Sioux have been protesting for months in peaceful prayer camps in North Dakota, and farmers and landowners in Iowa have been fighting to stop the pipeline there for more than two years.
Now, thousands of people have joined in solidarity. In recent days, activists in Iowa and North Dakota have been arrested for physically blocking the pipeline’s construction, with more protests planned in the coming weeks and months.
We must stand with the local leaders and communities who are holding the line against this dirty and dangerous oil pipeline.
This fight is winnable. Hundreds of thousands of CREDO activists, along with our allies across the country, applied massive public pressure on the Obama administration and stopped the Keystone XL pipeline. We can and must do it again.
ACTION: Tell President Obama: Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Click to sign the petition here.
Josh Nelson is Deputy Political Director for CREDO Action from Working Assets.
Fate of Dakota Access Pipeline Rests in Hands of Federal Judge
Matt Agorist / MintPress News & The Free Thought Project
(September 1, 2016) — Earlier this month, a few dozen Native Americans showed up to protest the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile-long pipeline that would cross right through their sacred land. As word spread, however, the few dozen turned into more than 4,000 native Americans. Because of the large turnout, a brief victory ensued for the people after the developers of the four-state oil pipeline agreed to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline until after a federal hearing.
Before the hearing started, however, North Dakota homeland security director Greg Wilz ordered the removal of state-owned trailers and water tanks from the protest encampment, despite the sweltering heat, because of alleged disorderly conduct.
In spite of the government clamping down on them, the protesters remained vigilant. And, on Friday, they saw another victory. The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that Energy Transfer Partners, the company constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline, does not have a written easement from the agency to build on Corps property, just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
“That’s true they don’t have the easement that’s required to install the segment that’s across the Oahe project,” said Larry Janis, Army Corps Of Engineers, according to KFYR.
Now, the project seems to be in limbo as there is no current timetable on when the easement will be granted. However, the Corps has stated that they have issued a permission that will allow for the easement to be written.
Meanwhile, there is an ongoing case, which began last week in DC, that is revealing a slew of corruption.
As DeSmog reports:
A review of court documents for the case currently unfolding in the US District Court in Washington, DC has revealed that the tribal liaison for Energy Transfer Partners tasked with abiding by Section 106 passed through the revolving door and formerly worked for the Army Corps. The finding also raises key ethical questions in the field of archaeology.
That liaison — Michelle Dippel — technically works for a Dakota Access LLC contractor named HDR, a company which helps pipeline companies and other oil and gas industry infrastructure companies secure permits for their projects. Dippel, the South Central Region Environmental Services Lead forHDR, began her career as a project manager for the Army Corps’ Fort Worth District and also formerly worked for the natural gas pipeline company Spectra Energy.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II, explains below how this conflict of interests allowed for the fast-tracking of the pipeline, via the New York Times:
“The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation supported more protection of the tribe’s cultural heritage, but the Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer Partners turned a blind eye to our rights. The first draft of the company’s assessment of the planned route through our treaty and ancestral lands did not even mention our tribe.
“The Dakota Access pipeline was fast-tracked from Day 1 using the Nationwide Permit No. 12 process, which grants exemption from environmental reviews required by the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by treating the pipeline as a series of small construction sites.
“Without closer scrutiny, the proposal breezed through the four state processes.”
As news of insider deals and corruption spread, a number of protesters left the camp at Sacred Stone and descended on the law offices of Fredrikson and Byron — the firm representing the Dakota Access in court.
Protesters demanded to know why the attorneys are representing the pipeline.
“We’re here to protect the water. We’re here in prayer. The songs we’re singing were prayer songs. So we really wanted them to answer to some of the people. Some of the Standing Rock members specifically. Why would you want to threaten their lives and their water?” said Joye Braun one of the protesters.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has every reason to be furious about the construction of this pipeline and their protest is undoubtedly just. The people of the Great Sioux Nation were betrayed by the US government, who violated the nation-to-nation treaty by allowing permission of this pipeline before obtaining the tribe’s free, prior and informed consent for its construction.
The Standing Rock protest represents far more than a single pipeline. It is a stand against oppression that shows the people’s struggle for freedom.
As Winona LaDuke stated in her analysis of all that is at stake, What Would Sitting Bull Do?
I am not sure how badly North Dakota wants this pipeline. If there is to be a battle over the pipeline, it will be here. For a people with nothing else but a land and a river, I would not bet against them. The great Lakota leader Mathew King once said, “the only thing sadder than an Indian who is not free, is an Indian who does not remember what it is to be free.”
The fate of the pipeline now rests in the hands of a federal judge who will rule on the legality of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Sept. 9. Will the people be victorious and protect their land and remain free? Or, will their history be rewritten once again, this time, with freedom defined as everything except Big Oil’s right of way?
Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared.
This article was reposted from MintPress News.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
Private Security Attack Peaceful Defenders with Dogs at Cannonball River
Some ways for us — who are not currently in Standing Rock — to help:
TAKE ACTION — CALL THE MORTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
SHERIFF’S PHONE NUMBER: 701-667-3330
“THE PUBLIC IS ASKED TO CALL THE MORTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE AND DEMAND THAT THEY CEASE AND DESIST, AND PUT AN END TO MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS ABOUT THE WATER PROTECTORS. THESE FALSE STATEMENTS ARE CLEARLY AIMED AT ESCALATING THE SITUATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF USING FORCE AGAINST PEACEFUL WATER PROTECTORS.” [BRENDA NORRELL]
ADDITIONALLY, REMIND THE SHERIFF THAT THEIR JOB IS TO PROTECT THE PEACEFUL DEFENDERS, NOT TO PERMIT PAID THUGS TO ATTACK HUMAN BEINGS WITH DOGS.
SHERIFF’S PHONE NUMBER: 701-667-3330
“At least six peaceful water protectors were bit by dogs and dozens were pepper sprayed today by private security at a Dakota Access pipeline construction site. One horse was also bit in the attack.
“Despite the attack the water protectors pushed onward until construction on the site was shutdown for the day.”
content from Owe Aku (http://oweakuinternational.org/) and Brenda Awesome Norrell’s Censored News (http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/)
AND HERE’S MORE you can do:
Here’s everything you need to know to HELP FIGHT the Dakota Access Pipeline! from Linda Black Elk
1. You can donate items from the Sacred Stone Camp Supply List:
http://sacredstonecamp.org/supply-list/
2. Call the White House… (202) 456-1111. Tell President Obama to rescind the Army Corps of Engineers’ Permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
3. Contribute to the Sacred Stone Camp Legal Defense Fund:https://fundrazr.com/d19fAf
4. Contribute to the Sacred Stone Camp gofundme account:https://www.gofundme.com/sacredstonecamp
5. Call the Army Corps of Engineers and demand that they reverse the permit: (202) 761-5903
6. Sign the petition to the White House to Stop DAPL: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/…/stop-construction-dakota…
7.Call the executives of the companies that are building the pipeline:
a. Lee Hanse
Executive Vice President
Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.
800 E Sonterra Blvd #400
San Antonio, Texas 78258
Telephone: (210) 403-6455 Lee.Hanse@energytransfer.com
b. Glenn Emery
Vice President
Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.
800 E Sonterra Blvd #400
San Antonio, Texas 78258
Telephone: (210) 403-6762 Glenn.Emery@energytransfer.com
c. Michael (Cliff) Waters
Lead Analyst
Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.
1300 Main St.
Houston, Texas 77002
Telephone: (713) 989-2404 Michael.Waters@energytransfer.com
#HonorTheTreaties #NoBakken #SacredStoneCamp
#STOPDAPL #MniWiconi #SacredWater #NoDAPL #RezpectOurWater#StandWithStandingRock
… and I’m adding:
8. SHARE this post!
9. STAY TUNED!
Camp of the Sacred Stones
https://www.facebook.com/CampoftheSacredStone/?fref=ts
Red Warrior Camp
https://www.facebook.com/RedWarriorCamp/?fref=ts
Censored News/Brenda Norrell
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
10. COME if you can – and check out camp recommendations for what to bring
