Army Corps of Engineers to shut down Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp

Army Corps of Engineers to shut down Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a nearly 1,200-mile-long underground oil pipeline project that begins in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota and ends at the oil tank farm near Patoka, Illinois. The pipeline is being built to allow crude oil to reach refining markets in a more direct, cost-effective, safer and environmentally responsible manner by reducing the current use of rail and truck transportation.

The pipeline was due for delivery on January 1, 2017. However, a series of violent demonstrations have taken place, spearheaded by climate alarmists and social justice warriors, that have delayed its completion.

The situation has deteriorated so badly that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has ordered the protest camp closed by Dec. 5.

The Corps sent a letter to Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault Nov. 25, saying the decision is to protect the general public from violent confrontations between protesters and law enforcement in that area.

He also says the decision was made to protect inhabitants of the camps from the harsh North Dakota winter and that medical, emergency and fire response teams cannot be provided.

Anyone on the property after Dec. 5 will be considered trespassing and may be subject to arrest.

This action follows a recent round of protests, a young woman nearly lost her arm (supposedly after police launched concussion grenades to control the unruly mob attempting to pull a truck from a bridge).

…[A 21-year-old New York resident named Sophia] Wilansky had been handing out bottles of water to protesters when a grenade landed near her forearm. Suddenly, it detonated, according to witnesses.

…Initially, protesters feared the worst: Doctors would have to amputate her arm due to the explosion.

But Wayne Wilansky, Sophia’s father, told CNN affiliate KFYR that amputation wouldn’t be necessary even though the explosion “blew the bone out of her arm.”

However, other reports indicate fuel canisters being thrown by protesters themselves injured Wilansky.

…[L]ocal authorities blamed the horrific injuries on the protesters, insisting the protesters were throwing fuel cannisters at Morton County Sheriff’s officers.

“We don’t know where it came from,” Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said Monday after the gory explosion.

The situation has put President Obama under mounting pressure to end the Dakota pipeline disruptions and have the final leg of the construction completed as originally planned:

North Dakota’s governor and congressional delegation are pressuring President Obama to pave the way for completion of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, protests over which they say are taxing law enforcement and are costing millions of dollars.

…Obama raised the possibility of rerouting the pipeline earlier this month, which Kelcy Warren, CEO of pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, told The Associated Press is not an option from the company’s standpoint. Obama said his administration is monitoring the “challenging situation” but would “let it play out for several more weeks.”

“Your inaction on the pending easement has created undue hardship and uncertainty for area residents, private landowners, tribal members, construction workers and law enforcement personnel,” Dalrymple, Hoeven and Cramer told Obama.

Under President Trump, the Dakota Access Pipeline is likely to be completed. However, as social justice rhetoric is probably going to heat-up significantly during his administration, more rage-based demonstrations are quite possible.

I sure hope his team is preparing for a social justice war, in which with young adults are encouraged to battle imaginary enemies instead of being directed to focus on meaningful and productive ways to make their lives happy and successful. I suspect Sophia Wilansky is not the last young activist who will bear actual scars from misguided and illegal protest tactics.

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