Counter Currents, August 23, 2016Thousands join protest camp as supporters are holding a rally in Washington D.C. on Wednesday outside of Army Corps hearing.
Growing in number and spirit, the Standing Rock Sioux protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline is swiftly gaining strength ahead of a federal hearing on the controversial project. Support has spread across the country, and thousands have descended on the peaceful “prayer camps” in recent days, prompting state officials on Monday to remove the demonstrators’ drinking water supply.
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, according to the Bismarck Tribune, including reports of laser pointers aimed at surveillance aircraft.
“People are getting overheated now already,” said Johnelle Leingang, the tribe’s emergency response coordinator, as temperatures hovered around 90º F on Monday. “It’s very hurtful.”
The supplies were provided last week by the North Dakota Department of Health at the tribe’s request to support the roughly 2,500 people now gathered along the Standing Rock reservation’s border on the Cannonball River, near where the pipeline is slated to cross.
Standing Rock spokesman Steven Sitting Bear said he’s received “notifications from tribes all over the country that have caravans in route, so it’s continuing to grow.”
On Wednesday, high profile activists and supporters are rallying in Washington D.C. outside the U.S. District Court, where members of the Standing Rock Sioux will argue that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted Energy Transfer Corporation approval for the 1,172-mile pipeline without tribal consent.
The tribe says that the pipeline—which will carry up to 570,000 barrels of fracked Bakken oil daily across four states to a market hub in Illinois—puts the sacred waters of the Missouri River at great risk.
“The Army Corps of Engineers might back off… We might, after five centuries, actually listen to the only people who’ve ever successfully inhabited this continent for the long term.”
—Bill McKibben
Climate campaigner and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben penned an op-ed on Monday titled “After 525 years, it’s time to actually listen to Native Americans.”
McKibben notes that in recent years Indigenous people like the Standing Rock Sioux “have been the vanguard of the movement to slow down climate change,” and offers a vision of “what it might mean if the if the Army Corps, or the Obama administration, simply said: ‘You know what, you’re right. We don’t need to build this pipeline.’”
“It would mean that after 525 years, someone had actually paid attention to the good sense that Native Americans have been offering almost from the start,” he continues:
One has the ominous sense of grim history about to be reenacted at Standing Rock. North Dakota authorities—who are in essence a subsidiary of the fossil fuel industry—have insisted that the Sioux are violent, that they have “pipe bombs.” There are rumors about calling in the National Guard. The possibility for renewed tragedy is very real.
But the possibility for a new outcome is there as well. The Army Corps of Engineers might back off. The president might decide, as he did with Keystone, that this pipeline would “exacerbate” climate change and hence should be reviewed more carefully. We might, after five centuries, actually listen to the only people who’ve ever successfully inhabited this continent for the long term.
Construction on the pipeline remains halted after developers paused the project last week in anticipation of the Wednesday hearing.
Meanwhile, a U.S. District Court hearing on whether a preliminary injunction should be issued against the protesters has been rescheduled from Thursday to Sept. 8, although a restraining order against the demonstrators has also been extended until then. Filing the order on Monday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland wrote that factions are ‘”strongly encouraged to meet and confer in good faith’ to try and resolve the dispute out of court,” the Tribune reported.
Updates are being shared on social media with the hashtags #NoDAPL and#RezpectOurWater.
Warrior Publications 
Reblogged this on eyewitness and commented:
#NoDAPL
I assume the demonstration will be at the US District Court at 333 Constitution Ave NW in Washington DC, but what time Wednesday will people be gathering there?
People can’t drink oil ( or use oil to wash their clothes , or water their gardens ) . Fish can’t breathe oil , birds may not bathe in oil. All can drown in it.
Is there a constructive way to get water to folks as someone who lives far away right now?
I don’t know, but please tell me if you find out.
So this is what you call “homeland security”, Greg Wilz? I call it what it is, fascist Gestapo tactics favoring a corporate oligarch regime. You have nothing to do with “homeland security”; you are a “Domestic Threat” and traitor to the people. Resign, your colors are shown; you are known for the fascist gestapo you are.
I ask the federal government to fire Greg Wilz immediately for intentionally and malice aforethought of endangering and harming citizens of the US states and attempting to infringe upon their first amendment rights, their right to seek redress for grievances, association, and protest.
His actions, involving the serious attempt at endangering thousands is criminal and he should be indicted for his actions.
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This is so outrageous. We all have the right to peaceful protest. To try and shut down the Indians there is beyond outrageous. Beyond belief. I am beside myself. If there is a way to contribute towards drinking water, I would.
How can we help support the protesters?
Ok I respect their right to protest but to be honest the government has no right to spend tax payer dollars to provide water to a private protest!! The Indians and the protesters should have planned this out better!!!!
The government had no right to steal their fertile land and “give” them the rocky crags back that they thought weren’t worth anything. So if anyone is OWED something by the tax payers it is that American Indians!
Reblogged this on The Wild Horse Conspiracy and commented:
So glad to see some spirit for a change real courage standing up for what’s right for Life on Earth!
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