The environmental risks of the Dakota Access Pipeline project have been recognised. A victory for the Sioux and all Native Americans. But the fight may not be over.
The news arrives unexpectedly after six months of battles that brought together, for the first time on a united front, all the major Native American tribes: the Army Corps of Engineers has announced that it will not authorise the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (Dapl) beneath the Missouri River and near Sioux lands, and that alternative solutions will be studied after gathering public comments.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,700-kilometre pipeline project that was intended to transport 400,000 barrels of oil (64 million litres) per day from the Bakken oilfields, extracted using mixed and invasive techniques. The proposing company is Energy Transfer, which already controls 114,000 kilometres of American pipelines. Army engineers recognised that the pipeline route would have endangered the water supplies of the Native American settlements of Standing Rock, straddling North Dakota and South Dakota, where protests by the Sioux Native Americans began in April and were subsequently joined by all other tribes.
Given its environmental nature, the protest quickly gained the support of several Hollywood celebrities: from Jane Fonda to Mark Ruffalo, from Leonardo DiCaprio to Robert Kennedy, from Susan Sarandon to Ben Affleck. Just a few days ago, two thousand war veterans also arrived to lend their support to the camp at Oceti Sakowin, where thousands of people had gathered to physically oppose the start of construction work. The arrival of the veterans also averted yet another confrontation between law enforcement and protesters, who had been given an ultimatum to evacuate the camp on public land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers.
"This victory is rare because it is contagious, because it shows people around the world that organisation and resistance can lead to winning," declared Naomi Klein, journalist and activist who took part in the protest. "But the fight is not over and the protesters know it. The proposing company will challenge the decision and Trump will try to reverse this trend. The legal path is not yet clear."
Although this victory does not undo the relief from the repeated violations suffered — law enforcement aggression manifested itself in water cannons, dog attacks, hundreds of summary arrests and numerous clashes that caused several injuries — the struggle has left behind a sense of hope: that of having set an example, an inspiration for an alternative to an economy based on fossil fuels, destabilising for the climate and polluting for water resources. The ones saying so are the Native people themselves: "Through this struggle we have taught the country how to live: we must focus on green energy, on renewables, and harness the blessings that Creation has given us — the sun and the wind above all."