Indian Country Today Media Network: Justice Dept Reaffirms It Will Not Grant DAPL River-Crossing Permits Anytime Soon

“While the Army continues to review issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members, it will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe,” Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle told the news station in an e-mail on Tuesday October 25. Earlier in the day, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II had requested a DOJ investigation into civil and human rights abuses by police and other authorities against the protectors. “In the interim, the departments of the Army, Interior, and Justice have reiterated our request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe.”

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Indian Country Today Media Network: A Call for Justice Dept to Act on DAPL Civil Rights Abuses

“Rather than seeking to keep the peace, law enforcement personnel are clearly working in tandem with private security of Dakota Access,” the chairman wrote, adding that the tactics not only evoke the civil rights movement of 50 years ago but also bring up the collective memory of the U.S. government’s “long and sad history of using military force against indigenous people.”

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Indian Country Today Media Network: The American People Are Paying Attention to Indian Country – Why Doesn’t Congress?

As the 114th Congress draws to a close, there’s still time for Congress to do right by Indian country. The House of Representatives will return for a “lame duck” session before the end of the 114th Congress. Native Americans have already waited patiently only to see their valid, legal water rights ignored by a congressional majority that considers their needs unimportant. Further inaction would be an insult.

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