Fact Check: “Water Protectors”
You’ve probably heard by now of the so-called “water protectors” who are protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline near the #NoDAPL construction site in North Dakota.
You’ve also probably heard that they are there in “peace.” They are not.
What you probably haven’t heard is that the water intake area the self-proclaimed “water protectors” are claiming to protect will be shut down by the end of this year.
The Say Anything blog spoke with David Rosencranz, the area manager for the Dakotas Federal Bureau of Reclamation, who stated the Fort Yates intake system is set to close later this year due to age and has already had a number of issues in recent years.
The Tribe, which receives water from two different intake areas, is set to exclusively use the Mobridge facility, some 70 miles from the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing they are currently protesting. Apparently this transition has been in the works for more than a decade and its closure has nothing to do with the Dakota Access Pipeline.
All of this may lead you to question, what is all the commotion at the Cannon Ball construction site really about? Is it possible this about something more than just water? By the way, it should be noted that the Dakota Access Pipeline will be bored some 90 feed under the river bed using state-of-the-art technology and monitoring systems – and has already been given the green light by the U.S. Army Corps.
So what is this really all about? It’s certainly has nothing to do with water, as that issue will be a moot point by the end of the year – it likely has to do with the larger movement against the development of American-produced crude oil.
The “keep it in the ground” philosophy, championed by groups like Earthjustice (Name sound familiar? They are the environmental group who is supporting the tribe in their legal actions – the same group that has a history of trying to kill energy development projects), simply doesn’t work.
In order to live a 21st century life – one with iPhones, the internet, cars, plastics, and more – you need safe, efficient ways of transporting the product. The actions by the protesters in North Dakota seem to have forgotten that the same car that got them to the remote part of the state where the protests are happening was filled with gas, a by-produce of oil – not solar, not wind, not anything else but good ole American-made gasoline.