Dakota Access Pipeline Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words

Journalists Risk Legal Battles & Prison Time For Covering Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

A NoDAPL sign at a rally in solidarity with Native American "water protectors" in North Dakota. (Flickr / Paulann Egelhoff)

October 20, 2016

Kit

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Journalists Risk Legal Battles & Prison Time For Covering Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Although charges were recently dropped against prominent progressive journalist Amy Goodman, multiple reporters still face serious charges for covering protests against the Dakota Access pipeline.

Among them is Deia Schlosberg, an Emmy-winning documentarian who was recording nonviolent protests against the Dakota Access pipeline for an upcoming film. She’s currently up against three felony charges which carry a maximum combined sentence of 45 years in prison.

On Monday, a judge in North Dakota threw out the case against Goodman, an award-winning journalist and host of Democracy Now! North Dakota State’s Attorney Ladd R. Erickson had initially filed charges of criminal trespass against Goodman on Sept. 8, just days after a Democracy Now! video showing pipeline security attacking Native American activists with dogs went viral. On Oct. 14, the trespass charge was dropped and replaced with a misdemeanor charge of rioting.

Dakota Access Pipeline ‘Water Protectors’ Block Construction Despite National Guard Blockade, Police Harassment & Arrests

Members of the Overpass Light Brigade hold lighted signs reading "PROTECTORS" at Oceti Sakawin camp. (Flickr / Joe Brusky)

October 5, 2016

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Dakota Access Pipeline ‘Water Protectors’ Block Construction Despite National Guard Blockade, Police Harassment & Arrests

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Amid near continuous harassment and frequent arrests by police, members of over 300 Native American tribes gathered on native land in North Dakota continue to block construction on the Dakota Access pipeline.

“It’s a matter of minutes from when they’re called that they show up and you see constant harassment of people going back and forth to camp,” said Remy, a Diné artist and organizer at the encampment on Standing Rock Sioux territory, known as Oceti Sakowin Camp.

“It shows how close the ties are between the Dakota Access pipeline and law enforcement.”

What’s Behind The Surge In US Pipeline Construction?

A Dakota Access Pipeline construction site in Campbell, South Dakota. (Flickr / Lars Plougmann)

September 20, 2016

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What’s Behind The Surge In US Pipeline Construction?

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The Dakota Access pipeline is just one of several major fossil fuel projects underway as part of U.S. efforts to dominate the global energy market and crash the oil-dependent economies of American nemeses like Venezuela and Russia.

On Monday, a federal charge officially halted construction around Lake Oahe, the site of a massive protest against the Dakota Access pipeline led by the Standing Rock Sioux, who have been joined by hundreds of other Native American tribes and indigenous groups.

Elsewhere, however, expansion of U.S. fossil fuel infrastructure continues.

Winona LaDuke, a respected Native American activist and executive director of Honor The Earth, put the Dakota Access pipeline and others like it into international perspective during a July 12 interview with Democracy Now!. LaDuke explained:

Dakota Access Pipeline: Archaeologist Group Urges Army Corps Of Engineers To ‘Learn From Past Errors’ On Sacred Sites

Activists at a #NoDAPL solidarity protest in New York City hold a banner reading, "Respect indigenous peoples & mother earth. Water = life." (Flickr / Joe Catron)

September 17, 2016

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Dakota Access Pipeline: Archaeologist Group Urges Army Corps Of Engineers To ‘Learn From Past Errors’ On Sacred Sites

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The Society for American Archaeology is urging the Army Corps of Engineers to reevaluate the plans and permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“On behalf of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), I write to you urgently regarding the process by which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has handled its National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106 responsibilities in relation to Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL),” SAA president Diane Gifford-Gonzalez wrote in an open letter issued on Tuesday.

The SAA, the world’s largest organization of professional archaeologists, also sent the Sept. 13 letter to President Barack Obama, multiple federal agencies including the Justice Department and Department of the Interior, and the governor of each state the pipeline will run through.

The 1,134 mile, $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline is slated to bring crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields to Patoka, Illinois. The Sacred Stone Camp, a gathering of thousands of members of over 100 Native American tribes near Fort Yates, North Dakota, has spent months protesting and blockading construction of the pipeline.

‘The Wild West Of Money In Politics’: Dakota Access Pipeline Builder Spends Millions To Influence Elections

At a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site, Native American activists chained to construction equipment hold a banner that reads "Water Is Our First Medicine." (Flickr / Prachatal)

September 8, 2016

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‘The Wild West Of Money In Politics’: Dakota Access Pipeline Builder Spends Millions To Influence Elections

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The corporation behind the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline also operates its own political action committee that has a record of donating to the campaigns of candidates who support the company’s pro-corporate, pro-fossil fuels agenda in Congress.

However, the political war chest of the Energy Transfer Partners PAC amounts to pennies compared to the wealth of Kelcy Warren, the chairman and CEO, who has spent millions becoming one of the most politically powerful oil tycoons in Texas.

“Unlike the federal system, here in the state of Texas, for state candidates, there are no limits on campaign contributions. We call it the Wild West of money in politics,” Andrew Wheat told MintPress News.