For months protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline were warned by those from the Army Corps of Engineers down to local officials that their protest encampment on Corps land could cause potential hazards come spring. Well, with increased temperatures and melting snow, those warnings are now coming to fruition.
Cleanup efforts have been moving forward since late January in hopes of minimizing the ecological damage caused by the horrific amounts of vehicles, personal items, garbage, etc. left behind by the so-called “Water Protectors”. But currently it’s questionable whether cleanup can be completed in time before flooding washes the nastiness into the very water protesters hypocritically said they were “protecting”.
I have an e-mail response sent to a follower of The Minuteman today from Morton County Emergency Manager, Tom Doering, that says, “A local Waste Management Contractor in Bismarck did receive $10,000 from an account accessed by Chase Iron Eyes and another $10,000 from a private individual’s credit card” to assist with the cleanup.
As you may know, Iron Eyes has been a leading figure in the NoDAPL movement. In fact, he was arrested recently for his part in an illegal protest encampment on private property. Does the $10,000 show some sort of acceptance of responsibility for the mess by Iron Eyes? Without more details, it’s difficult to say.
In addition to this, Doering says Standing Rock Sanitation has been assisting in cleanup as well. Last month Standing Rock Tribal Chairman, David Archambault II said that cleanup efforts were being funded by $6 million in donations that the tribe had received in support of it’s efforts against the pipeline.
In the same e-mail, Doering acknowledges that Morton County intends on contracting with a local waste management company “for work to begin in the morning for cleanup on the Morton County side.” Which begs the question, why should Morton County or the state of North Dakota shoulder any of the financial burden of cleaning up this disaster?
If you will recall, it was the Army Corps of Engineers that allowed the illegal protest encampment to stay and create the mess that they did, not Morton County or the state of North Dakota. And key members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe – like David Archambault II – were responsible for calling on thousands of protesters to come and “stand in solidarity with Standing Rock”.
The way I see it, neither Morton County or the state of North Dakota should have to pay a dime for the cleanup of this disaster.
Source:
1. E-mail Response from Morton County Emergency Manager:
2. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/feb/15/north-dakota-feds-address-garbage-left-at-pipeline/
