Yesterday, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe made the following announcement on their Facebook web page:
For Immediate Release. 1-21-17
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is grateful to all who have stood with us during our efforts to secure a thorough review of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Because we worked together, the Federal Government will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. Moving forward, our ultimate objective is best served by our elected officials, navigating strategically through the administrative and legal processes.
Yesterday the Tribe passed a resolution brought forward by the Cannonball District which asked that no camps remain in the Cannonball District. Councilmen from across the reservation, including Cannonball, described the hardships and strain on the citizens and resources of our Nation. The Council passed the motion unanimously. For this reason, we ask the protectors to vacate the camps and head home with our most heartfelt thanks. Much work will be required to clean up before the spring thaw, which will flood the area. It is imperative we clean the camps and restore them to their original state before this flooding occurs. Once again, thank you, and we wish you well. [emphasis added]
This appears to be a reversal of policy by the Tribe from just four days ago when the Tribe announced this:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1-17-17
Today, representatives from the various camps and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe met at length to develop a plan for relocating from the camps in danger of flooding. The tribe is preparing the new site by clearing it of snow, and the plan is to open it up on Friday, January 20th. Tribal and camp leadership are asking that everyone remaining in the flood plain camps remove themselves and their belongings to the new site by January 29th.
On Monday, January 30th, the tribe will be sending in equipment to the flood plain camps to remove and dispose of remaining waste and materials in preparation for early flooding. The tribe and camp are working in cooperation to take advantage of this brief respite in extremely severe weather to take precautions to keep the remaining water protectors safe and prevent camp materials from entering the river. We appreciate everyone's cooperation.
The remaining camps are located in the flood plan of the Cannonball River, and are expected to flood in March with springtime thaw of heavy snow in the area. There is also a history of ice jams near the mouth of the River that cause flooding pulses in the area. The flooding risk was cited by the Army Corps of Engineers in their December, 2016 announcement ordering all protestors to leave such lands.
Considerable waste, abandoned debris and illegal structures remain at the camps on Army Corps flood plain lands and the Standing Rock Tribe wants to remove all of that before expected flooding washes it all into Lake Oahe.
The continued presence of the protest camp is also a drain on the Tribe, from having to provide water, sanitation, fuel and security for the protest camps. Continued recent clashes between cops and national guard and protestors at the “backwater bridge,” which was barricaded by burning stolen National Guard construction trucks on October 27, has interfered with negotiations between the Tribe and North Dakota to reopen the bridge after assessing and repairing damage to the bridge caused by camp protestors.
However, North Dakota and Morton County kept the bridge closed pending repair and assessment work, also in order to deny access of camp protestors to both private lands owned by Dakota Access Pipeline and to the horizontal drilling pad for the pipeline under the bottom of Lake Oahe that were both north of the backwater bridge.
Closure of Route 1806 is a hardship on the Tribe for issues of emergency vehicle access and egress to/from the Tribe’s Reservation and for economic operation of the Tribe’s Prairie Nights Casino….the largest employer on the Standing Rock Reservation.