Case Study: Tribal Outreach Key Part of Corps’ Exhaustive Review of DAPL

By nearly all accounts, the Army Corps of Engineers’ review and subsequent approvals of permits related to the Dakota Access Pipeline was thorough.  In many cases, the Corps went above and beyond what was required by the law.  GAIN Fact Checker is starting a new series looking into the decisions that led to the approval of, construction of, and subsequent safe operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline.  In this post, we look at the Army Corps of Engineers and its focus on tribal outreach.

As we’ve discussed before, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers engaged in a multi-year scientific analysis …

FACT CHECK: New Book Paints Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters As Innocent Victims

CLAIM: A new book – “Standing With Standing Rock — Voices from the #NODAPL Movement” –paints protesters at the Dakota Access Pipeline as both heroes and victims of “ritualistic brutality” in their battle against authorities and corporations – and the environmental dangers posed by the pipeline.

RATING

False

FACT CHECK

First, let’s look at the record of violent activity by environmental extremists who put themselves, police and workers at risk. This includes environmental extremists setting a dozen fires on a public highway while protesting pipeline.

Extremists also threatened reporters covering the protests. On October 11, 2016, reporters were confronted and …

Anti-Pipeline Protester Allegedly Planned ‘Armed Rebellion’ Along U.S-Mexico Border

An activist involved in the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline protests has been linked to an alleged plot to “stage an armed rebellion” along the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to an unclassified FBI report reviewed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, “anti-fascist activists” led by Evan K. Duke III planned to buy guns from a Mexican cartel in order to “disrupt U.S. law enforcement and military security operations at the US/Mexico border.”

The suspected plot isn’t the first time the self-proclaimed Antifa leader has resorted to violence to further his radial agenda. During the winter of 2016-17, Duke spent several months in North …

FACT CHECK: Security Personnel Did Not Set Fire at North Dakota Pipeline Protest

CLAIM: The Albuquerque Journal reports that “someone set some army trucks parked on a bridge on fire” at the Standing Rock pipeline protest in 2016, and that “some thought it was the work of security details dressed as protesters.” The Journal also quotes an activist photographer as saying, “There’s this huge issue of who set those trucks on fire” because security “wanted to keep their jobs; they were making $1 million a month.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

The Journal quotes the claims uncritically but fails to mention that seven people were charged with federal crimes in conjunction with the protest, …

FACT CHECK: Dakota Access Pipeline Not a Threat to Drinking Water

CLAIM: The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe claims that the Dakota Access Pipeline threatens their drinking water supply. “The [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] is taking our clean water and sacred places by approving this river crossing…Protecting water and our sacred places has always been at the center of our cause,” said the tribe’s former chairman, David Archambault.

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

Pipelines, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration, are “one of the safest and least costly ways to transport energy products” and “safely deliver trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of ton/miles …