All across the Southwest, people have stood with the Standing Rock Sioux in local protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Many have traveled to North Dakota to participate in what began months ago as a peaceful protest.
As temperatures in North Dakota dropped down to the 20s police in riot gear sprayed protesters with water. Indigenous Environmental Network’s Dallas Goldtooth says 17 people were taken to hospitals, some with hypothermia. A spokesman for the sheriff’s department says protesters have assaulted officers with rocks and burning logs.
In Flagstaff, hundreds of people lined Route 66 in front of City Hall last week shouting, “People over profit,” and “Protect the sacred!”
Navajo member Andy Dan grew up near the Black Mesa coal mine and he has seen firsthand the impacts of industry — many of his family members displaced, their water source drained.
“It’s just sad to have a government like that not to do anything about it just oppress the native people you know,” Dan said. “That still goes on today.”
The Army Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, are arguing in court over whether to allow the pipeline to go under a Missouri River reservoir. President Obama suggested rerouting. The issue likely won’t be resolved until Donald Trump is in office.
