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DAPL demonstrates who really cares about North Dakota

The spectacle of Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) protesters attacking their own protectors, attacking North Dakota civilians, damaging property and killing ranchers’ animals offered a stark contrast to how the rioters were portrayed in national media: as some kind of 1960s activists challenging “the man” on behalf of the “little guy.”

Nothing could be further from the truth, with protesters aligned with powerful forces in the White House, with Hollywood celebrities, and with plenty of money behind them from wacky anti-capitalist financiers.

Who cares about North Dakota? Who is a good neighbor? Have those who financed the rioters stepped forward to offer to pay a cent for the clean-up of the destroyed public property; to cover the cost of the investigations of the crimes committed by protesters?

We know the answer. None. Folks seem to think temper tantrums by the advantaged, spoiled class are fine and that working people should pick up the bill for the mess.

Enter DAPL. Dakota Access Pipeline, LLC, has donated $20,000 to first responder departments in each of the North Dakota counties through which its pipeline passes. The company presented checks totaling $140,000 to emergency management departments in Mountrail, Williams, McKenzie, Dunn, Mercer, Morton and Emmons counties Tuesday.

Dakota Access will make similar donations to county emergency management departments across its four-state route, totaling $1 million across 50 counties in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.

Williams County’s Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security Director Mike Smith said, “Dakota Access Pipeline recognizes that our first responders, the majority of whom are volunteers, would be the first people to respond in case of a pipeline emergency and are the first line of defense in protecting the local communities. We are very glad to work with them as neighbors in our community.”

Quick, name a Hollywood DAPL protester who has offered anything to protect the land they once claimed to feel was so sacred.

Time is up.

DAPL once again demonstrates its commitment to doing business right, to obeying the law, to caring about the potential impact of the pipeline, and to being a good neighbor.

North Dakotans (and others impacted) thank you, DAPL, for your support and your warm relations to law-abiding locals. There is no reason to doubt that in the event of any emergency, we know we will find you there with us. Helping. As neighbors.

The way it’s supposed to work.

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