Ironies are often fun, and that’s certainly the case with the failed effort by Standing Rock Sioux to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. David Middleton makes the point clearly, summed up in these three ironies:

1. The protest led to a $6 million loss in revenue at the tribe’s gambling casino.
2. The protest camp itself, not the pipeline, threatened water quality for the tribe: “North Dakota authorities said the closing of the main protest camp, which sits on Army Corps of Engineers land, was necessary to prevent pollution during imminent spring floods. The protest site had developed into a make-do city, with semipermanent buildings, medical tents and abandoned cars. If that washed into the Missouri River, the authorities said, the results could be damaging to the environment.”

   

3. The pipeline’s route doesn’t cross any Indian lands anyway—Standing Rock Sioux or otherwise.