About one thousand water protectors remain in the Standing Rock encampments and continue to face brutality at the hands of local law enforcement as they pray and monitor pipeline construction. On Friday, a SWAT team fired nonlethal ammunition at a crowd of more than 100 people assembled on the blockaded bridge of Highway 1806. Five were arrested.

According to a study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, every additional month of construction costs Energy Transfers Partners US$4.5 million, and now that it has passed the January 1 deadline for completion, they may lose an extra US$913 million. As the pipeline remains incomplete, ETP has violated the terms of their business contract and the companies that agreed to ship oil through DAPL now have the right to withdraw from the project.

Ladonna Bravebull Allard of Sacred Stone Camp said, “We can not back down now because there is a great healing happening among the people- there is a great rising among the people. We must stand for the water.”

Tara Houska of Honor the Earth said, “Last Wednesday, several of us held space in a Wells Fargo bank to educate people on how and where their money is being invested. This follows numerous shut downs, lock downs, etc. that have occurred all over the country. As we head towards a Donald Trump presidency and overt corporate control of the federal government, we must focus on local governance and grassroots organizing. Dakota Access is feeling the pressure -- without our money funding the investors, this destructive project dies. Together, we will not be defeated.”

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