by Sade Smith, News Editor
For months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has battled against the $3.8 billion project expected to move 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day across the Mid- west.
Their efforts have gained much support from citizens and veterans who recently set up camp with the “water protectors”.
This Sunday, the US Army Corps of Engineers said it would plan to reroute the pipeline from under Lake Oahe in North Dakota to another location. The protests in North Dakota, and even here on campus enlightened Americans of the sacred sites on Lake Oahe, as well as the almost inevitable contamination of the community’s drinking water. The Native American tribes celebrated this victory as North Dakota’s governor ordered protestors to leave their campsites by Monday in lieu of the harshening weather conditions.
While no word yet has been received on the new location in sight for the DAPL, the Stand- ing Rock Tribe has much to celebrate. Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Archambault spoke on the significance of healing the protestor’s relationship with police and other enforcement after this turn of events. As the demonstrations were peaceful, there was clashing between the two groups with tear gas and water rubber bullets being used against protestors at their campsite. With over 500 citizen arrests during the protesting, tensions grew, expanding on the ongoing conversation of police brutality in the United States.
On the Army website, a statement was published in lieu of the decision. “[United States Assistant Secretary of the Army] Jo-Ellen Darcy said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing.”
But even with such a victory through demonstrated unification, despair looms overhead as President Obama prepares to leave office in January and is replaced by President-elect Donald Trump. According to CNN, this is a threatening turn of events for protestors, but they are prepared for the best and worst yet to come.