American Governments Deafening Silence on DAPL

To start off with a little context:
 The Dakota Access Pipeline has been a situation of much contention in North America as of late. This is a proposition by Dakota Access LLC. to build an 1,172 oil pipeline starting in North Dakota running through South Dakota, Iowa, and ending in Illinois. The project has garnered much controversy based on concerns over its necessity and it's danger to the environment and the fact that it runs through several regions of sacred Native American land where there are burial site locations. Nevertheless it has proceeded, intending to be complete by January 2017. For the last several months there have been protests at the Standing Rock Native American Reservation in North Dakota. Police and local authorities have been blocking the protesters and essentially protecting the interests of the company rather than the safety and history of the people.

             

The question on everyones mind....what is the government doing to step in?

Well as of now, absolutely nothing. With the global warming crisis become more pressing and our necessity to act on it imperative, it is crazy that the Obama administration has so far done nothing to rectify or step in to the situation. They are literally drilling a pipeline into the ancestral grave sites of the indigenous people and they have put the drill pad half a mile from the main water source for the indigenous people. In an interview President Obama tip toed around the issue by saying police and officials need to be tolerant and show restraint. It seems very obvious that in reality he just doesn't want to get involved and damage relationships with large fossil fuel corporations. There has literally been so much citizen media and protest on the current state of things there but the government seems to ignore it even though this could have serious consequences for not only the environment, but the quality of life for those living in proximity to this pipeline. Most indigenous reserves already live in a condition without basic human needs like health care and clean water. Furthermore many of the protesters are seriously injured, one 21 year old woman had a concussion grenade thrown at her, severing her arm almost completely off and she will be fighting to keep her arm for the foreseeable future.

We live in a society where the law applies to everyone except for government officials and billionaire bankers....it seems like if there was a time to step in now would be it, when people are being brutalized simply for trying to protect their own land???

The year of 2016 has been one where I loose a little bit of faith in humanity every time something like this goes undefeated.