So much for “environmentalists” really caring about the environment.
The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services (DES) said on Tuesday that a Florida-based clean-up company it hired to clear trash, waste, and debris from the Oceti Sakowin camp protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline has already run up a bill of $1 million after hauling away from the site 24,000 tons of trash, garbage, rotting food, tents, teepees, sleeping bags, dozens of empty propane tanks, human excrement, and several automobiles. They also left behind two dogs and six puppies, apparently abandoned.
When The New American reported a month ago on protesters polluting the environment they allegedly claimed to revere, the amount of time, effort, and money it would take to clear the site was understated. Even Dave Archambault, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and one of the protest’s leaders, was astonished: “There’s more than anticipated,” he stated, “and it’s under a lot of snow. I wouldn’t say it’s going to get done in days; it’s going to take weeks.” That was a month ago and the cleanup continues.
The New American also reported, based on information available at the time, that the costs would largely be borne by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which received some $6 million in donations from sympathizers, and the rest offered by volunteers from nearby Cannonball township. New information reveals that the $1 million bill presented to the North Dakota DES is going to be foisted onto local taxpayers after all.
It was anticipated that the protesters would leave the site by February 22, the date set by the Army Corps of Engineers, in order to allow the cleanup to begin. There had already been over 700 arrests, but some stayed beyond the curfew, blocking the road into and out of the site. They also set some 20 fires, causing at least two children to suffer burns.
In addition, the local Comfort Inn announced that it would no longer be honoring vouchers issued by DES to protesters needing a place to stay, thanks to some of them trashing their rooms.
And then there are two other sites — Rosebud and Sacred Stone — where protesters stayed that still need to be cleaned and then fumigated by environmental cleanup experts.
As this article is being drafted, cleanup continues in attempts to keep the trash from polluting Lake Oahe and the nearby Missouri River when the snow begins to melt. Those protesters, if they can be called that, have left behind overwhelming evidence that they are not environmentalists concerned about protecting the environment. They are not even hypocrites. They should be called what they really are: thugs, infantile slobs, and troublemakers seeking only the personal uncontrollable sensate pleasure of smashing and trashing other people’s property and then leaving before they can be held accountable. The Dakota Access pipeline project just provided them an excuse to vent their anger and spleen at a world they refuse to accept.
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
