Trump Will Not Stand With Standing Rock

The Standing Rock Sioux reservation rejoiced in December when the Army Corps of Engineers announced they would deny the permits necessary for the drilling of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project. The Sioux Tribe has been against the building of the pipeline since 2014, mainly because the pipeline would traverse the Missouri River, which provides the tribe’s main water supply, and also pass through a sacred burial ground.

Soon after the announcement, thousands of barrels of oil leaked from the Belle Fourche Pipeline on a hill just above the Ash Coulee Creek, unwittingly driving the point home for the protestors. While most of the demonstrators have gone home since their victory, about a thousand remain protesting and plan to do so through the winter.

The majority is concerned about the fact that Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the 3.8-million-dollar project will continue to build if no opposition is present, in spite of the ensuing court battle between the tribe and the company.

“I’ve seen some of my friends leave but I will be here until the end and will stand up to Trump if he decides to approve the permit,” Victor Herrald, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe who has been at the camp since August, told Reuters.

I don’t blame the protesters for their concern over the future of the matter under the incoming Trump Administration. Under the multitude of business interests Trump already has, the DAPL and the corporation behind it have made it to the list.

Chairman and CEO at Energy Transfer Partners Kelcy Warren donated more than $100,000 to Trump’s campaign.

“I’m 100 percent sure that the pipeline will be approved by a Trump Administration,” Warren told NBC News days after the election. “I believe we will have a government in place that believes in energy infrastructure.”

In May of 2015, according to campaign disclosure reports, Trump owned shares worth between $500,000 and $1 million from Energy Transfer Partners, but only had about $50,000 invested when he sold off the remainder of his shares this summer, according to his spokeswoman Hope Hicks.

According to the Associated Press, as of last May, Trump had at least $100,000 invested in Phillips 66, which owns a quarter of the oil line.

We also cannot forget that on his campaign trail, the president-elect ensured he would roll back regulations on the fossil fuel industry and unleash “a treasure trove of untapped energy.”

The aforementioned facts, and the Republican-led Congress only add to Trump’s cabinet picks. The appointment of the president and CEO of Exxon Mobile Rex W. Tillerson for U.S. Secretary of State and Scott Pruitt, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, should leave no doubt in the collective conscience as to where his support will lie in the DAPL matter.