Until our collective memory went off to other things, there was a minute when we all seemed to have an opinion, one way or the other about the Native Americans protesting the Dakota Pipe Line being built across their scared land so as not to be too close to non-native ranches, cities, and towns.

For months people had been gathering to protest this sacrifice of sacred land to corporate interests, a move that could very well affect the local drinking water and food supplies, before they got any attention. But, like Flint Michigan, their time in the spot light came and went.

But on December 4, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ ambivalence to grant or not grant an easement that would have let the pipeline’s builders burrow under Lake Oahe, a section of the Missouri River, ended when it finally denied  the easement.

This doesn’t mean the issue is dead. It just means the fight will go on and any influence that can be exerted will be, and whatever money it takes to cross palms will make that crossing until politicians act and undo the present decision.

The Native Americans might hope to get help and support from the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, but that hope might just have been dashed as United States Senator John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, a former North Dakota governor, and a vocal supporter of both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, was elected to lead that committee on Tuesday.

“I am honored to serve as the chairman … and look forward to working with Vice Chairman Udall and members of the Committee to pass legislation that helps improve the lives of people across Indian Country,” Hoeven said.

What does the Committee do?

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Hoeven has repeatedly opposed causes that Native Americans support, and that includes their opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

That certainly is a good sign

Although there was no aggression on the part of the Native Americans, Hoevan deems their protest “violent”, and had asked President Barack Obama to deploy federal law enforcement to quell it.

“We recommend you provide federal law enforcement resources immediately to state and local agencies in order to maintain public safety, which has been threatened by ongoing — and oftentimes violent — protest activity. The solution … is for the Corps to grant an easement for the project so that life can return to normal for our farmers, ranchers, tribal members and law enforcement officers, who have worked very hard to protect the lives and property of all.”

But such an ironic assignment is not out of the ordinary for Washington under Trump with the GOP in charge of each House of Congress as he himself has nominated Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma as the head of the EPA, an organization he has fought because it wants clean air, water, and energy that may make his fossil fuel friends’ lives difficult; Jeff Sessions with a history of racial bigotry to head the Department of Justice; and anti-public school champion, Betsy DeVos, with no experience with public schools as his Secretary of Education.

It seems that in the next four years whether it is the Executive or Legislative branch, if you oppose it and want to do away with it, you are going to be in charge of it.

But how insulting it is to have someone chosen as the head of a committee whose job it is to help Native Americans who has favored oil over their needs and traditions.