The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Indian bitterness over oil pipeline jeopardizes senator’s 2nd-term bid
STANDING ROCK SIOUX RESERVATION, N.D. — Standing Rock Sioux tribal member Marlo Hunte-Beaubrun went door to door on North Dakota’s largest American Indian reservations in 2012 turning out the tribal vote to help put Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in the U.S. Senate. Six years later, with Heitkamp fighting hard to win a second term, Hunte-Beaubrun is staying on the sidelines.
She is among Indian voters who say they’ve lost their zeal for Heitkamp over her perceived non-stance on the Dakota Access pipeline, which brought thousands of American Indians and others to the state in 2016 and 2017 to protest its construc- tion under the Missouri River, just outside Standing Rock.
“It was really a kick in the stomach,” Hunte-Beaubrun said. “We rallied so hard for her, but when her hand was forced she basically sold out to Big Oil.”
Democrats’ hopes to capture the Senate depend heavily on Heitkamp, who has trod a careful path on energy and other issues to win office and remain popu- lar in a deeply conservative state. But she faces a stern test from the state’s lone U.S. House member, Republican Kevin Cramer, in a race seen as a top pickup chance for Republicans.
Heitkamp’s first victory came by fewer than 3,000 votes, and American Indians, who tend to vote Dem- ocratic, were a source of strength. Three counties with majority Indian populations — Sioux, Rolette and Benson — backed Heitkamp by a more than 4,000-vote margin over then-U.S. Rep. Rick Berg. In Sioux County, home to the Standing Rock reservation, Heitkamp took
83 percent of the vote.
Once in the Senate, Heitkamp earned respect from American Indians for her knowledge of issues important to them, such as domestic violence in Indian Country and the relationship between tribal governments and the federal government. The first bill she introduced established a commission to study the challenges facing Native American children, an issue she had pursued since the 1990s when she was North Dakota’s attorney general.
Then came the Dakota Access pipeline, a $3.8 billion project by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners to move oil from North Dakota’s rich Bakken fields to a shipping point in Illinois. The pipeline offered oil com- panies a cheaper way to get their product to market, was seen as safer than rail ship- ping and had the support of most state leaders.
The Standing Rock tribe opposed it as a threat to water. Their protest grew into a national event for environmental advocates, and pipeline opponents frequently clashed with police. In the ensuing months, Heit- kamp’s public statements didn’t take a position on the pipeline, instead typically urging courts and federal
officials to resolve uncertainty around the project while supporting protesters’ right to demonstrate.
On Standing Rock, a 3,600-square-mile reservation that straddles the Dakotas border, there are few industries besides a casino. The reservation is home to about 10,000 people, and unemployment runs as high as 20 percent.
“The majority of the people here feel the same way I do — she chose oil over Indians,” said Joe Torras, a 57-year-old rancher and horse trainer at Standing Rock. “Once you damage that trust, we will never let it go. You only get one shot.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Heitkamp highlighted her work on Indian issues, saying no one in the delegation has been a “stronger advocate.” Of the pipeline, she said: “My interest was keeping everybody safe.”
Mary Louise Defender Wilson, 87, a writer and retired educator, said Heitkamp was in a no-win situation.
“I think she was right not saying anything about that pipeline — there were some really bad things that happened there and it distracted from our real issues,” Defender Wilson said.