Tribe offers pipeline protesters a place to overwinter

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Tribe offers pipeline protesters a place to overwinter

James Macpherson, Associated Press

Updated 11:51 am, Wednesday, October 19, 2016



BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Standing Rock Sioux's tribal council has voted to make tribal land available for those protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline, though an organizer from another tribe says many of the several hundred gathered will remain on federal land without a permit.

The council voted 8-5 Tuesday to use the reservation land — which is about two miles south of the large Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires, camp on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property — so permanent structures can be built to protect protesters from North Dakota's notoriously brutal winter weather.

"The cold is coming and the snow is coming," tribal chairman Dave Archambault II said Wednesday. "It makes sense to be proactive and not reactive."

But the offer is too late, said Cody Hall, a protest organizer who is part of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in South Dakota.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Anti-pipeline-encampment-to-move-from-federal-to-9983268.php

[misterhighwasted]

1. I grew up there. Winter can be either brutal or liveable.

Expect temps in the single digits day or night with normal wind speed of 20-30 mph +, driving temps well below zero.

They will be trudging thru frozen snow, against 20mph winds & below zero temp just to use the frozen port-a-potty.

It is a brutal existance. And made worse by the snow blown across the flat open prairie by 20+ mph winds, it becomes a white out blizzard. I hope they don't freeze to death. This is NOT camping. It is survival by the minute.
Food freezes, water freezes, people freeze, in minutes.

But then, with fortune on their side, it may be a milder winter. Its unpredictable.

I wish them well and wish them the sense to heed the weather warnings for their safety.

It is the flat open space of this camp that is problematic. They are exposed to the elements.

This is why Tribes spent summer on the open plains to hunt & gather, then pack their belongings and join others along the protected treed area along the Missouri River for the cold winter months where they had a supply of fresh running water.
Had they stayed out on the open plains in teepees they would have frozen to death.
They knew this.

I'm guessing this camp is completely aware of what may come with this winter and have enlisted others from local towns checking on supplies & heat.
Today, life on the Dakota prairie includes 4 wheel drive vehicles and cell phones.

They should be ok.

Best Luck to them.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Tremendous information. Thank you. n/t

[turbinetree]

3. I also lived in region but in South Dakota, near the Pine Ridge Reservation

and with the wind and snow, the temps dropped to -40 below with the wind shield and I have seen with wind blowing against a two story house cover the wind side of the house up to the roof line.

What I find remarkable in the reporting is the following:

"Protesters do not have a federal permit to be on the corps' land, but the federal agency had said it wouldn't evict them due to free speech reasons. Authorities have criticized that decision, saying the site has been a launching point for protests at construction sites in the area; about 140 people who have been charged in recent weeks with interfering with such work".

"The authorities have criticized the decision"

Is this the authorities:

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/9/who_is_funding_the_dakota_access

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/who%27s-banking-dakota-access-pipeline

It is absolutely amazing how a bunch of oligarchy always whines if they don't get there way, but when a people stand up and say enough, they come out and say " The authorities have criticized the decision"

This includes the governor, the state and federal elected representatives, the sheriff, and the state militia------------------they seem to have forgotten what they are suppose to protect, the first amendment of the Constitution.

This shows who they are embolden with, Energy Transfer, and not the:

Constitution

Treaties,

Native American Graves Protection Act

http://blog.nativepartnership.org/treaty-series-the-fort-laramie-treaty-of-1868/

https://www.nps.gov/archeology/tools/laws/NAGPRA.htm