(Please Pardon the Redundancy)
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) will deliver us oil. From the fracking-unleashed shale fields of North Dakota to Illinois – from whence it will make its energy-providing, prices-lowering way into our economy.
As with all things – especially oil-related – lots of governments had to grant lots of permission to the DAPL folks before any pipe could be laid. And every pertinent government – the four states’ through which the line will be laid, and the Feds – have all granted that permission.
Get that? The anti-fuel, anti-capitalism, environmentalist radical Barack Obama Administration – that dragged its feet for years on and then denied the Keystone Pipeline – approved the DAPL.
So what’s the problem? Believe it or not, there are environmentalist radicals even more radical than the Obama Administration. And they object.
Behold environmentalist radical trial lawyers EarthJustice – and their client, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST).
The problem is – well, a problem is – the time to object was during the five different governments’ respective, lengthy pipeline approval processes. Which, in fact, the Tribe did.
“A basic examination of documents provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state utility boards, as well as filings by the Corps of Engineers and Dakota Access in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia shows the SRST and environmental allies met with regulators multiple times, and filed over a hundred comments throughout state and federal review periods. Filings also show that Dakota Access made seven attempts to meet with the tribe directly but were rejected every time.” (Emphasis ours.)
The pipeline was approved anyway. And construction started.
But the Left never allows the facts to get in the way of a good beating. So EarthJustice and the Tribe have filed a lawsuit to try to stop the DAPL – in which they falsely claim they never had any say in the approval processes. Five governments’ documented evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
Speaking of too much dishonesty way too late – let’s meet Tim Mentz.
“Dave Meyers is the owner of 8,100 acres that the DAPL pipeline will be crossing to get to the Missouri River or Lake Oahe. During the last week of August, he was wondering if there was any Indian graves that might be disturbed by the construction of the pipeline.”
Stop right there. “The last week of August” – is a month AFTER all five relevant governments had finished their exhaustive pipeline approval processes. It was then when this sort of thing should have been “wondered.”
But Meyers, and Mentz, find an exhaustive, lawful process so annoying.
“(Meyers) asked Tim Mentz to assess the ‘corridor’ route that was going to be used to host the buried pipeline….On Sunday, August 29, 2016, Tim and his sons found 82 significant historical marking, of which 27 were grave locations.”
Of COURSE they did. So are the DAPL crews plowing up piles of Indian skeletons? Not so much.
“As far as burial sites, our people didn’t bury anyone in dirt. They were placed on scaffolds so the body could be given back to Mother Earth, however, the scaffold place was marked.”
So there are no actual burials in the burial grounds. But these sites are marked – how? Rocks.
“The teaching-stones are about the size of teapots and since our people had not developed a written form of language, they had extra ordinary recall but for practical purposes stones – little, big, and real big were used to remind the people of age old knowledge to be handed down.”
So rocks. Of various sizes. In open grass fields. And no written evidence that these rocks represent burial sites – because the Tribe had no written language.
So who is Mentz? On whose word we are to rely?
Tribal Historian to Speak on ‘Fracking’ at Pierce College Puyallup: “Longtime preservationist and tribal historian Tim Mentz Sr. is taking the stage Nov. 25 (2014) at Pierce College Puyallup to shed light on the environmental and cultural implications of a controversial form of accessing oil and natural gas, known as ‘fracking.’…Mentz is the co-founder of an environmental and cultural consulting firm.…”
Mentz is an environmentalist radical – using the Tribe as a beard to stop fracking. And progress.
Is he being honest about the burial sites? There is zero way to know. We’re just supposed believe him. But given the Tribe’s rampant, blatant dishonesty elsewhere – it’s inordinately difficult to do so.
And the incredible tardiness of Mentz’s efforts – WELL after the lengthy, laborious time frames five different governments provided him – makes his claims seem even more dubious.
Less like he wants to preserve – more like he wants to prevent.
Oh – and there’s this:
Official Archaeologist Report: No Cultural Material or Human Remains Found in Dakota Access Pipeline Route: “It should be noted that federal Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, has previously rejected these claims by the tribe. In fact, in August the state archaeological team investigated another claim of graves found along the pipeline route, again finding it to be erroneous.”
And this ain’t exactly virgin land – never before trod upon by modernity.
“(F)or roughly 40 miles through the area they’re making these claims the Dakota Access Pipeline follows not only the existing Northern Border natural gas pipeline but also existing power line infrastructure. The Dakota Access Pipeline is “brownfield” development. This ground has already been dug up.”
So it looks like Mentz is a liar. Joining a conga line of liars. All lying, tardily, to block a pipeline – already approved by five different governments, including the Obama Administration.
Enough, already.
This first appeared in Red State.