Pipeline resistance prepares to fight into the winter
- Michaela Solomon | November 28, 2016
Ione Gayton, 65, is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She stands next to her vehicle, clad with bumper stickers and a license plate that reads “SIOUXS”.
The proposed Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project has stirred up a resistance movement in the Standing Rock area. Protesters from all over the globe have flooded in to stand in solidarity with the local Indigenous community, who say the pipeline project endangers the water and land of the Missouri River. Gayton gives examples of the injustice she believes her people are facing, in their fight against DAPL.
Dakota Access Pipeline Protestors: At the hands of officials
“The damage has been done and it’s going to get worse,” says Gayton. “The sacred sites they have destroyed, there are consequences for that. We’re not going to do anything to them, but the spirits will,” she warns. “We have what we call traditional cultural specialists and they identified some sites that were there.”
Tribal historic preservation expert Tim Mentz Sr. filed a statement in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps. Mentz claims the land in question was home to burials marked by rock cairns. However, on Sept. 3, Labour Day weekend, Energy Transfer Partners dug up the land. Consequently, Mentz filed an additional statement on Sept. 4 implying that he thinks Dakota Access went out of their way to dig the day immediately following his claim, since it was the Saturday over the Labour Day weekend. Mentz also outlines that he observed the nearest area of the construction to be some 20 miles from the land in questions.
“The pipeline route does not and has not impacted any culturally sensitive or sacred sites,” says Vicki Granado, a spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners. Granado says the company had seven archeologists from the North Dakota’s Historical Society assess the land on Sept. 21, which brought Energy Transfer Partners to this conclusion.
Since before the destruction of the burial site, water protectors have been standing at the front lines in protest of DAPL. “It’s really ugly,” Gayton says. She becomes emotional when thinking about the men and women who are risking their lives on the front lines, to protect the water of the Missouri River. “I’m thankful that we have young, strong people, even elders and children who are there,” she explains through tears. “They’re fighting for us. They’re getting hurt for us, and I know we’re going to win because the spirits told us. I have grandchildren,” Gayton continues, “and I want them to have clean water too, and their children’s children. Everyone has a right to clean water, not just us Indians, but everybody along the river.”
The protesters at the main camp say they are preparing to wait out the winter, or until Gayton’s hope for clean water for all becomes a reality.