For months I had wanted to sit down with this Sioux Chief, who has a reputation as a strong, unflappable leader working tirelessly to protect his people. So the day after the veterans began pouring into the community center at Eagle Butte, the Chairman agreed to drive two hours north to an interview on a windy hill overlooking the Oceti Sakowin Camp. Hundreds of reporters from private blogs to major media outlets were in Oceti Sakowin in anticipation of the vets arriving, but no one, except a friend who happens to be a Cheyenne River member, was down at the Cheyenne Sioux Reservation to be a witness. Armed with a small camera, Elder Jay Cook would take photos and text them to me while I interviewed Chief Frazier. The photos would take twelve hours to arrive, due to the lack of reliable cell service.
We did not know that a denial of the easement permit was being filed as we spoke on December 4.
But pipeline interests will not go down without a fight to save the $3.7 billion pipeline and uncertainty clouds celebration.
As of this writing, on December 5 DAPL filed a motion for a summary judgment to reverse the permit denial of December 4.
"Cross-Claimant Dakota Access, LLC ("Dakota Access"), pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal rules of Civil Procedure and Local Civil Rule 7(h), respectfully moves the Court to enter summary judgment in its favor and to issue a declaration that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a right of way under 30 U.S.C. 185(a) to construct, operate, and maintain the pipeline beneath federal land at Lake Oahe, North Dakota, and that the right-of-way is subject to the "Conditions of Easement (Lake Oahe)" set forth in the July 25, 2016 Mitigated Findings of No Significant Impact."
But, on Saturday, the future was unknowable and fortunately, someone offered us a tent for the interview. As Chief Frazier settled into a folding metal chair, a cup of coffee in hand, I wondered how many meetings had taken place on this land, going back hundreds of years. How many stories had been told, negotiations made and treaties broken? We were in a canvas tent, but a hundred years ago Sitting Bull brought his people to Standing Rock to discuss treaty demands offered by the United States. There is a photo in the archives of history that show him, flanked by the great Chiefs, with a birch tipi in the background.
The Chairman was coughing, off and on. He has asthma, now exacerbated by the tear gas he experienced on the night of violence at the Backwater Bridge. The photos and videos from that event finally galvanized national media to pay attention to the use of excessive force by the Morton County Sheriff's Department against the people who have come to be known as the water protectors.
One thing Chairman Frazier wanted to make clear was that he only agreed to meet because of the significance of the veterans' event and the "importance of getting our message out."
"All those pictures they (the media) take of the chiefs and all, that is not me. I want to be here for other reasons."
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