Winter weather is descending upon Standing Rock, North Dakota, where thousands of indigenous people and allies have gathered to resist construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Undersupplied and facing the prospect of a Trump administration, the water protectors, as they call themselves, face a gloomy season ahead after seven months of protest.
Energy Transfers Partners, the developers of the pipeline, have met fierce resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux. The tribe says the pipeline, which comes quite close to their land, has the potential to burst or leak, therefore poisoning their water supply. The tribe also says construction runs through a few newly discovered sacred sites and burial places, which means building the pipeline would infringe upon the Standing Rock Sioux’s tribal sovereignty. Meanwhile, the pipeline’s developers say they are using technology to minimize the possibility of leaking or spills, Vox’s Brad Plummer reports.
Protesters have clashed several times with private security and local police in recent months, and the National Guard was called in last September. This past weekend was no exception, as North Dakota law enforcement used water cannons and rubber bullets to push back protectors from a barricaded bridge leading to construction sites.
