"Beyond Standing Rock: Environmental Justice Suffered Setbacks in 2017"

"'There is a real war going on and it’s a war against health, against the environment and against human rights.'"

"Humvees with heavily armed county, state and federal agents rolled into what remained of the Oceti Sakowin protest camp in North Dakota in early 2017. With a U.S. Department of Homeland Security helicopter circling low overhead and heavy machinery preparing to topple anything in their path, the camp's last few holdouts torched their tipis and fled across the frozen Cannonball River to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The once-thriving camp had united thousands in their shared opposition to construction of a crude oil pipeline and raised hopes for a new era in tribal sovereignty. Its forced clearing on Feb. 23 came just two weeks after the Trump administration granted a final easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross beneath the nearby Missouri River. It was a dark day in a troubling year that saw setbacks for environmental justice, from the Great Plains to America's island territories.

For many in the environmental justice movement, 2017 served as a wake-up call to a new era where no environmental protections are immune from attack—and where much of the harm is borne by the poor."

Phil McKenna reports for InsideClimate News January 3, 2018.

SEE ALSO:

"Environmental Justice: What We’re Watching As The Year Ends" (EHN)