Standing Rock Sioux protest of oil pipeline

Feds say they won't evict sprawling pipeline protest camp

BISMARCK, North Dakota - The sprawling encampment that's a living protest against the four-state Dakota Access pipeline has most everything it needs to be self-sustaining -- food, firewood, fresh water, and shelter. They have everything, that is, except permission to be on the federal land in North Dakota.

 

A volunteer sorts through donated food near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. The sprawling encampment that’s a protest against the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline has most everything it needs to be self-sustaining - except a federal permit to be there. The camp near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers in North Dakota is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land (AP).

(Oct. 1, 2016) Federal officials say they will not evict the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires camp, due to free speech reasons, even though it is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers that many Native Americans believe is still rightfully owned by the Standing Rock Sioux under a nearly 150-year-old treaty.

 

"We're not leaving until we defeat this big black snake," camp spokesman Cody Hall said of the pipeline. But residents in the area have expressed feeling unsafe and frustrated with how the protest has swelled to scores of self-described "water protectors" who have joined the tribe's fight.

And Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer -- North Dakota's lone voice in the House -- says the camp is illegal. He blames the agency for looking the other way. More

• VIDEO: Shocking footage of dog attacks on peaceful Native American oil pipeline protesters