Small protest camp waits out removal of Keystone XL pipeline
ARIELLE ZIONTS, Rapid City Journal
April 4, 2021
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RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) A small protest camp on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation plans to remain in place until the criminal cases against two of its members are finished and all infrastructure related to the Keystone XL Pipeline is removed.
“The camp will remain until we confirm all KXL construction sites have been shut down and the pipes removed,” Oscar High Elk, founder of Roots Camp, told the Journal.
High Elk and camp member Jasilyn Charger are facing criminal charges, some directly related to protests and acts of civil disobedience against pipeline infrastructure being built near the reservation on land promised to the Lakota people in treaties that were seized by settlers and the federal government.
Gov. Kristi Noem and South Dakota’s congressional delegation are criticizing President Joe Biden’s decision to cancel a permit needed to build the Keystone XL pipeline while a coalition of Indigenous people, environmental activists and some rural landowners are celebrating.