Pipeline protesters vow to stay camped on federal land

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

James Macpherson, Associated Press
Updated 6:46 pm, Saturday, November 26, 2016





CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters will not follow a government directive to leave the federal land where hundreds have camped for months, organizers said Saturday, despite state officials encouraging them to do so.

Standing Rock Sioux tribal leader Dave Archambault and other protest organizers confidently explained that they'll stay at the Oceti Sakowin camp and continue with nonviolent protests a day after Archambault received a letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that said all federal lands north of the Cannonball River will be closed to public access Dec. 5 for "safety concerns."

The Corps cited the oncoming winter and increasingly contentious clashes between protesters, who believe the pipeline could harm drinking water and Native American cultural sites, and police.

Standing Rock tribal members believe the land in which the encampment is on is owned by the Sioux through a more than century-old treaty with the U.S. government.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Republican-senator-Pipeline-protesters-should-10637233.php

[DK504]

1. I loves me some Obama

and hasn't he told the Corp and this filthy pipeline company to back off?

[Sunlei]

6. last I read Obama told corp to stop & they ignored him. Officially the engineers are supposed to re-

re-route the pipeline away from the contested spot. There is another fairly close area where 4 other pipelines already cross the river.

The public land closure, is the way our Federal government and State governments work together to get rid of protesters on our public land and campers on our public land without a 'permit'.
They've used the 'close public land' for decades to arrest and get rid of activists & protesters.

[pinboy3niner]

7. Obama mentioned alternatives already under review by the Corps

Obama Says Alternate Routes Are Being Reviewed for Dakota Pipeline
By CHRISTINE HAUSER NOV. 2, 2016

President Obama, in his first remarks on the violent standoff over an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, called on both sides to show restraint and revealed that the Army Corps of Engineers was considering an alternative route for the project.

In an interview with NowThis news that was published on Tuesday, Mr. Obama said: “We are monitoring this closely. I think as a general rule, my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans.

“I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline.”

...

Mr. Obama said in the interview on Tuesday, “We are going to let it play out for several more weeks and determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to the traditions of the first Americans.”

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/us/president-obama-says-engineers-considering-alternate-route-for-dakota-pipeline.html?_r=0

[Sunlei]

8. good, an alternative route. I'm still worried about the "closed" public land. In my experience that

means the beatdown & arrests are coming very soon, to clear the "closed" public lands.

[raging moderate]

2. A valid treaty must be honored, or the US loses its honor. And credibility.

If they are right about this treaty, then it should be honored. The whole world is watching. Why should any country accept or honor a treaty with our government, if our government doesn't keep its word?

[Sunlei]

9. I don't think our government has kept its 'word' on any treaties OR designated reservation lands.

Wasn't the reservation a continuous chunk of land?

Today there are several smaller "reservation lands" in that state, separated by public federal land and private land. all barbed wire fenced.

[raging moderate]

10. I cannot stop hoping.

There is that city on the hill ideal some of us still want to see.

[Sunlei]

11. it's to late once they tore-up the expanse of reservation lands & public lands into smaller sizes.

[mfcorey1]

3. Soon, the Bundy's can take over with no legal right but the native

Americans with legal treaties are attacked and beaten. Damn! Inequality is a monster!

[Achilleaze]

4. Get a clue, AP, and stop right-wing spinning. They are not "protestors"

[Sunlei]

5. when they 'close' Americans 'public lands', that means Local police & our Federal police team-up to

"evict" anyone on the "closed" public land.

[snooper2]

12. I guess they should just start laying the railroad tracks through there