Letter: Pipeline decision victory for tribe

Maybe it was the ghost of Custer and all his annihilated arrogance and ignorance that tormented them into doing the right thing. Or it could have been the revenant of those Standing Rock ancestors senselessly slain 153 years ago by the U.S. Army on the same blood-soaked patch of prairie where their children now rise up and resist. Maybe it was the spirit of Crazy Horse incarnate in the thousands of energized and inspired water protectors at the spirit camps who refused to be bullied or blasted away by mace-filled water cannons.

Personally, I think the ghastly specter of the Army having to forcefully do battle with its own Native and non-Native military veterans who descended on Standing Rock vowing to protect the water protectors from Army Corps of Engineers eviction scared them. Who knows? What we do know is that U.S. Army Corp of Engineers made the astonishingly astute decision to deny Energy Transfer Partners the final permit necessary to complete the Dakota Access pipeline. It also ordered a route review and a full Environmental Impact Study be conducted if the company plans to continue the pipeline.

Wow! It's a historic win for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and all citizen pipeline fighters and water protectors around the globe. In this holiday season of hope, joy, love and peace this spirit-filled, prayer-based people-powered movement confronted the darkness of the day and won a victory few ever thought possible. Holy Smokes!

Tom Mohan

Cedar Rapids