Update on Standing Rock Victory: Water Protectors Not Going Anywhere

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Anne Petermann

Standing Rock activists stay in place, fearing pipeline victory was a ‘trick’

Julia Carrie Wong in Cannon Ball, North Dakota

Though the US denied a permit for the Dakota Access pipeline, many worry that the Trump administration and the pipeline company could reverse the decision

Native American activists at the Standing Rock “water protector” camps vowed to remain in place the morning after the US Army Corps of Engineers denied a key permit for the Dakota Access pipeline, with many expressing concerns that the incoming Trump administration and potential legal action from the pipeline company could reverse their victory.

The Army Corps of Engineers announced Sunday that it would not grant the permit for the Dakota Access pipeline to drill under the Missouri river, handing a major victory to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe after a months-long campaign against the pipeline.

However, the companies behind the pipeline, who have the backing of the incoming Trump administration, have insisted the project would still go ahead. “Nothing indicates for us to pack up and go home,” said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “Our native people have reason to be distrustful.”

Tara Houska, a member of the Couchiching First Nation, was similarly circumspect.

“I celebrate with caution,” the national campaigns director for Honor the Earth said. “We know that Trump is coming and with that, we know our fight will continue.”

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