Green Freaks and Government Abandoned THESE Native Americans
Starting late last year, environmentalists gathered in the state of North Dakota to protest and block the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.
Thousands of people from all over descended on the Peace Garden State and set up makeshift camps that would eventually become highly publicized symbols of opposition against the pipeline. The alleged grievance: that the pipeline infringed on Standing Rock Sioux land rights – even though the construction area in question wasn’t on Sioux land – and might hypothetically contaminate the tribe’s water supply.
The display would soon become a dividing point between those who cheered the camped-out protesters, and those who saw the effort as little more than a farce garnering national news coverage.
Eventually, the camps were cleared out, with even the tribe asking the demonstrators to pack up and get out.
Late last month, oil began to flow through the pipeline, but the debate over its impact still lingers, with opponents’ latest setback coming in the form of a federal court ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could withhold the results of environmental impact reports out of public safety concerns.
Whether or not the campers’ concerns of impending calamity from the project will come to fruition remains a mystery. One thing is certain, however: The impact from the protesters themselves had a far greater apparent impact on the local environment than the construction of the pipeline itself.
But, once the dust settled and the encampments on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation cleared out, the cleanup crews took over. All in all, according to government reports in March, the cost of restoring the local camps clocked in at over $1 million, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to haul away over 800 dumpsters full of refuse left behind by so-called “environmentalists.”
In addition to garbage, reports revealed that a number of pets were also left behind, forcing local animal rescue groups to scramble last minute.
But one wonders: with all this drama over an environmental disaster that hasn’t even happened yet, and all the concerns for the wellbeing of the local Native American population all over the mere possibility of pollution, where were the eco-campers when a massive environmental disaster actually happened just under two years ago out west?
In a recent episode of “Michelle Malkin Investigates,” CRTV delves into the impact of the Gold King Mine spill, the results of which were disastrous for the Navajo Nation.
The August 2015 disaster in Silverton, Colorado, which was caused by a combination of outdated environmental laws and EPA-overseen malpractice, sent millions of gallons of an orange, heavy-metal cocktail into the watershed of multiple western states. And oh … it also had a devastating impact on the Navajo Nation – which is now suing the federal government for damages.
In “EPA Run A-Muck,” Conservative Review Senior Editor Michelle Malkin takes a hard, investigative look at the details of the spill, the victims, and why it never received the attention it deserves.
One thing you won’t see in the episode (or any of the news reports surrounding the plight of the Navajo) is anything like the environmentalist shantytowns or mass media coverage of Standing Rock. (For more from the author of “Green Freaks and Government Abandoned THESE Native Americans” please click HERE)
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