Obama administration caves on pipeline approval

(Thomas Mitchell, 4TH ST8) – On July 26, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the final land easements and water crossing for the Dakota Access pipeline to carry oil from Bakken shale in North Dakota to Illinois.

For months before that various protesters, including some local Indian tribes, objected that the portion of the pipeline that runs beneath Lake Oahe might jeopardize a local source of drinking water.

Two different federal judges have rejected legal efforts to halt the pipeline, which is now about 90 percent complete at a cost of $1 billion to the company building it.

Protests have since turned violent, resulting in the burning of equipment and the arrests of more than 100 protesters.

On Sunday the Army Corps of Engineers reneged on that permit allowing the pipeline to be channeled 100 feet deep under the lake.

Isn’t there an argument that giving into violence just begets more violence?

But on CBS radio this morning a tribal leader was heard to say: “We don’t trust the White people … they got forked tongue …”

Mr. Mitchell publishes the 4TH ST8 Blog.

The article originally appears at 4TH ST8.