Governor Jack Dalrymple Invites Entire Standing Rock Tribal Council for Meeting About #NoDAPL Protests

Governor Jack Dalrymple has invited the entire Standing Rock tribal council for a meeting about the #NoDAPL protests.

“I am asking the Standing Rock Tribal Council to meet with me so that we can work toward a resolution of the pipeline issue, but to also focus on maintaining the relationships that are very important to us all,” Dalrymple says in the release.

“There is a great deal of outside influence at play surrounding the ongoing pipeline protests including the arrival of many out-of-state agitators, but it’s very important that we do not let this issue divide us as a state. The relationships that have built between the state and members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are important, and will continue to be important long after the pipeline issue is resolved,” he added.

It is significant, I think, that Dalrymple is inviting the entire council. Throughout the protests Dalrymple has had regular communication with Standing Rock Chairman David Archambault, but Archambault has shown little inclination towards working with the state to keep the protests lawful and peaceful.

He’s done little more than pay lip service to those goals, to the detriment of both his tribal community and their neighbors in Morton/Burleigh counties.

By inviting the entire tribal council for a meeting Dalrymple will have an opportunity to work with the entire council and not just Archambault.

That’s important because not everyone on the tribal council is happy with Archambault partnering with environmental extremists in opposition to the pipeline. Not everyone at Standing Rock, my sources there tell me, is happy with the violence and lawlessness which is now associated with the tribe as a result of #NoDAPL rioting.

By working with the entire council, and not just Archambault, I think the governor can find some common ground. If not on the pipeline project specifically but at least on how the protests are going to be managed going forward.

Here’s the full release:

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