With Air of Caution, Water Protectors Celebrate Victory Over 'Big Black Snake'

The Obama administration’s rejection of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is being widely hailed as a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux and Indigenous people throughout North America, as well as a testament to the power of people, who united to overcome “one of the most powerful economic and political forces in the world.”

But the fight is clearly not over.

After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced late Sunday that it would not be granting permission for the easement required for the oil pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe, pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners issued a statement denouncing the Corps’ decision as “purely political” and vowing to complete the pipeline “without any additional rerouting.”

Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners “are fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion and fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe,” the statement read. “Nothing this Administration has done today changes that in any way.”

Given that President Barack Obama has mere weeks left in office, as energy reporter Antonia Juhasz put it, the statement “most likely means” that Energy Transfer Partners expects to complete the pipeline under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who last week declared his support for the project.

Given this uncertainty, many at the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires, encampment are vowing to stay, despite Sunday’s jubilant victory celebration.

Monday also marks the deadline for the evacuation orders issued by North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“This isn’t the last round. Still, after 524 years of aggressive oppression, as Native Americans we will take the victories that come our way.”
—Simon Moya-Smith, Oglala Lakota Nation

Simon Moya-Smith, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and culture editor at Indian Country Today, warned Monday that with an “incoming pro-pipelines president… this battle isn’t over by a long shot.”

“More pipelines threaten our mother earth,” Moya-Smith wrote in a column for CNN. “We live in a country that has a suicidal addiction to oil and gas. We know more pipelines are slated for construction all over this country. We know pipes leak and pollute clean water. We also know treaties between Native Americans and the U.S. are constantly at risk.”

“So, no,” he added, “this isn’t the last round. Still, after 524 years of aggressive oppression, as Native Americans we will take the victories that come our way.”

Others similarly couched their excitement with a note of caution.