Print Column: Let’s Hope the Anti-Pipeline Activists Don’t Set Any Fires This Time
MINOT, N.D. — North Dakota’s Public Service Commission will be holding a hearing in Emmons County this week concerning a proposed expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The capacity would roughly double to more than 1 million barrels per day.
There is a large turnout expected from both supporters and critics of the pipeline.
What many North Dakotans fear is the violence and vandalism on display during the demonstrations against the pipeline in 2016 and 2017.
In that widespread apprehension, we see a wound the Sioux tribe from Standing Rock has inflicted upon their credibility.
Their voices are essential in the debate over infrastructure like DAPL. Taken at face value, their concern for the land and water of this region is both pragmatic and spiritual.
Unfortunately, in 2016, the tribe decided to hitch its wagon to political zealots who came to our state in an attempt to derail the construction of the pipeline with chaos.
Those of us who want to take Standing Rock seriously are stuck trying to line up the tribe’s expressed environmentalism with the estimated 2.4 million pounds of trash that were carted away from the protest campsite in some 835 roll-off dumpsters.
