Victory at Standing Rock
This editorial appeared in the Baltimore Sun:
It should not have taken thousands of protesters to camp out at Standing Rock — and especially not the use of water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas by local authorities as they tried, in vain, to disperse the crowds — for federal authorities to seriously consider the grievance that brought the members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their supporters to assemble there in the first place. The decision announced Sunday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to not grant a needed easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline segment under a North Dakota water reservoir was welcome but badly overdue.
A certain amount of celebration by oil pipeline opponents is understandable, of course. The U.S. has a long, shameful history of taking advantage of America’s indigenous peoples, particularly when energy and mineral rights are involved.
And before conservatives start screaming about politics and overreaching by an outgoing administration in its final weeks, they ought to acknowledge the next president is already flexing the same muscles by promising, for example, to personally intervene (with steep tariffs, if necessary) when companies are moving facilities abroad. So let’s not delude ourselves into believing there’s some sort of ideological purity involved. Rather, the Standing Rock standoff comes down to this — is there a better route available for a pipeline that threatens to pollute drinking water supplies and disturb sacred burial sites?
Donald Trump has indicated that he is inclined to support the $3.7-billion pipeline project, and, during the campaign, he spoke often about a desire to help the fossil fuel industry. But the Standing Rock Sioux have also touched a nerve in this country among all those average Americans who, like those Carrier workers in Indiana, don’t want to see their lives ruined by greedy corporations and indifferent bureaucrats. A populist president who won by promising to stand up for the Davids against the Goliaths might want to take note.