Houston Chronicle Editorial Board Falls for False Bismarck Reroute Claims

The Houston Chronicle is the latest outlet to slightly miss the facts about the Dakota Access pipeline. While it is supportive of the project, there are some errors that deserve to be corrected.

In a recent editorial, the Chronicle asserts that, “pollution worries were serious enough to force a reroute away from Bismarck’s municipal water sources and residential areas. Now the pipeline avoids Bismarck but comes closer to the Sioux tribe,” and that “this isn’t how police should treat peaceful protesters.”

As Standing Rock Fact Checker, Snopes, and The Bismarck Tribune have noted, the current route was always preferred to the Bismarck route as the Bismarck route would have crossed 27 more waterways, more agriculture land and would have been significantly is longer. These reports were confirmed by Bismarck mayor Mike Seminary who said there was never a discussion held about the project’s routing.

With regard to the “peaceful” protest, the Chronicle clearly ignores the reports of harassment, assault, reckless endangerment, and attempted murder committed by the Dakota Access protestors. To frame the protest as a one-sided cascade of oppression is incorrect.