The Standing Rock protestors completed their winter trek through North Dakota. The protest started last summer as a group camped out on “Tribal land” (actually next to tribal land although the protestors say it is tribal land) with their kids in tents. The camp site cleanup will not be pleasant.  People camped out in a semi rustic site. In winter. Insanely cold winter. In tents.

The BBC reports on the end of their protest here

The battle of Standing Rock has been bitter to the end. Barring an eleventh-hour twist, the protesters – who call themselves water protectors – have lost their fight.

Water protectors? Well raw sewage is just great for water guys.

Smaller camps may remain but the oil looks certain to flow, perhaps as soon as a fortnight from now. However some demonstrators say they have succeeded in pricking the nation’s conscience on two fronts.

Legends in their own minds perhaps.

First, by highlighting the abiding resentment of many Native Americans at the pillage of their land by the white man. And secondly, by showcasing the ultimate unsustainability of an economic system built on a thirst for oil.

Really? Not even the BBC buys that rather sketchy logic. But whatever makes their time in jail less icky I guess.

Even if that is true, it has come at a cost.

And that cost is?

Scores of people were injured; the state of North Dakota must pay a bill running into millions of dollars; and hundreds of protesters face criminal charges, some with the potential of lengthy jail terms.

Congressman Cramer who represents this area (like he lives here fer sure) had a few things to say about the remaining activists:

Why now?

There are three valid reasons the state is moving these folks out before Spring:

1. The Standing Rock Sioux asked these people to leave. Their Facebook post is specific and direct.

1. Sewage: this is not a Jellystone campground where people have sewer hookups and dump stations. The garbage is sitting in piles and sewage has nowhere to go.
2. Flooding seasons starts as soon as the spring thaw begins. And sewage plus flooding equals a nasty unusable river and pollutes tribal waters.

There is a conversation needed between the tribe and the US Government and hopefully both sides can discuss the concerns the tribe has and come to some agreement and protect burial sites. Of course, this will happen after the garbage and sewage is removed from the protest site. To the protestors? Guys, piles of poop and garbage are not good for the environment.  And being protectors of the water kind of means keeping the poop and trash away from the water.