Most of the world thinks that everything ended in Standing Rock when the Army Corps of Engineers denied the permit for the pipeline to be put under Lake Oahe. The Reality is, the fire has been turned down to simmer, but there have been numerous smaller actions since then. The DAPL people, and the cops, have not left...so neither have the water protectors.

The events of the 20th of November convinced me that I was going to go up to Standing Rock, and join the Water Protectors for a few days, at least. As I started getting prepared, Wesley Clark Jr. announced the "Veterans Stand With Standing Rock" mission, and it seemed like a good way for me to go up there. Unfortunately, it overlapped with my work schedule, but I managed to move a trip back, and have barely enough time to go up there with them, and back.

Recently I emailed my senator, Jeff Merkley regarding my concerns about the Dakota Access Pipeline and the many issues and questions regarding how the permitting and access for the pipeline have been handled by the Federal government. His reply to me was, as always, substantive and very helpful--this is not a senator who uses boilerplate canned generic responses to his constituents.