Oil and Water - Dakota Access Pipeline - Launched Feb. 14, 2017 - Full multimedia experience: audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - On February 7, 2017 the US Army Corps of Engineers granted the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline an easement to pass beneath Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Since early 2016, thousands of Native Americans have been fighting to prevent the pipeline's completion. In the final days of Barack Obama's presidency the White House put the construction on hold pending further assessments, and for a while the protesters believed they had won. Crowds celebrated with fireworks on the snow covered prairie of North Dakota. But everything changed with the arrival of President Donald Trump. Within days of Trump taking office, an executive memorandum was issued calling for the pipeline to proceed. And two weeks later, the president's order was followed through, and the Army Corps granted the easement. For the Sioux people who opposed this venture and the coalition of 200 tribal nations that joined them, this development is a crushing blow.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 24, 2016 - Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S - Offerings are placed on an altar along the Missouri River at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 24, 2016 - Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S - A water protector prays as he and others defend a sacred site near Turtle Island against the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Missouri River at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 4, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - A woman raises her fist in victory after the Army Corp of Engineers denied a permit to complete construction in a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Missouri River at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 10, 2017 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - RON STARR leads members of the Youth Unity Journey for Sacred Waters along Highway 1806 into the Oceti Oyate Camp outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The Youth Unity Journey for Sacred Waters, led by members of the Woodland Cree First Nations in Saskatchewan, Canada, completed their 46-day-long journey after walking 870 miles from Stanley Mission, Canada to the Oceti Oyate Camp bordering the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 24, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - Yurts are covered in morning snowfall at the Oceti Sakowin Camp at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 24, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - NANCY SHOMIN of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan stands across Turtle Island along the Cantapeta Creek during a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline on Army Corps of Engineers land bordering the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2017 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - An abandoned vehicle is buried in snow along Highway 1806 at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The current winter has been one of the harshest that North Dakota has experienced in years.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 24, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - A protestor stands as authorities give them warnings of being hosed by water if they do not disperse during an action against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline along the Cantapeta Creek which leads into the Missouri River on Army Corps of Engineers land bordering the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 24, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - Authorities face water protectors as they block them from proceeding further towards the construction site of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Army Corps of Engineers land in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. According to the Morton County Sheriffs Department, it has received assistance from 24 counties, 16 cities and 9 other states since August 2016. Unarmed protestors, who have been camping on Army Corps of Engineers land bordering the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, have been hit with pepper spray, rubber bullets and water cannons in freezing temperatures by law enforcement.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 25, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - ANDREW WAUPEKENAY of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin stands as he faces authorities on the other side of the Cantapeta Creek which runs into the Missouri River after barbed wire was placed along the shore near the Oceti Sakowin Camp on Army Corps of Engineers land bordering the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 25, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - DAVID OMONDI stands by a campfire during sunrise at the Oceti Sakowin Camp at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 4, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - An aerial view of the Missouri River miles away from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 12, 2017 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - CHIEF ARVOL LOOKING HORSE speaks to members of the Woodland Cree Tribe at the pipeline protest site located on US Army Corps land. Land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers where the pipeline has been routed is disputed by protestors to be land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as a result of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The treaty established Native American territories and interaction between the tribe and the United States, but was not respected by non-Indians.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 6, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - Protestors gather wood at the Rosebud Camp during the first days of harsh winter at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 6, 2017 - Richardton, North Dakota, U.S - A truck hauls pipeline used for the Dakota Access Pipeline toward a construction site from a storage facility.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 5, 2017 - Belfield, North Dakota, U.S - Oil pump jacks are seen along Interstate 94 in the Bakken Formation near Belfield.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 5, 2017 - Glendive, Montana, U.S - MIKE CONNELLY, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) working in North Dakota and who is in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline, drives past oil tankers being transported by railroad within the Bakken Formation in Glendive, Montana. Connelly's support for the Dakota Access Pipeline is based on North Dakota's oil-heavy economy and the pipeline's creation of employment to individuals in the oil business sector who are struggling to find opportunities to sustain their families following the 2015 Bakken oil bust.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 25, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - A fortified barricade on the Backwater Bridge on Highway 1806 blocks access to the construction site of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Oceti Sakowin Camp. The presence of military-grade equipment such as armored humvees and vehicles, barbed wire and cement barricades at the protest site has sparked controversy. The protest site located on land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, is considered trespassing and subject to prosecution according to the Army Corps.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 5, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - Water protectors march toward barricades on highway 1806 with support from US military veterans at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The march took place on the same day that North Dakota Governor Dalrymple's order to evacuate the Oceti Sakowin Camp was to take effect.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

January 15, 2017 - Solen, North Dakota, U.S - Buffalo are seen roaming land along Highway 6 outside Solen, North Dakota.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 24, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - A view of the Oceti Sakowin Camp after morning snow at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 5, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - Protestors stand on an abandoned and burned vehicle on Highway 1806 during an action against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 6, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - TOBY JOSEPH sits after being attended by medics for nausea and heavy chest symptoms during the first days of harsh winter at the Rosebud Camp at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Joseph was evacuated out of camp shortly after to a safer area until the blizzard was to calm. Volunteer medics worked around the clock during one of North Dakota's harshest winters in years. Protestors were being treated for hypothermia, trench foot, and asthma symptoms among others.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 5, 2016 - Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S - Protestors gather in prayer after marching toward barricades on the Backwater Bridge on Highway 1806 with support from US military veterans on Army Corps of Engineers land bordering the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The march took place on the same day that North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple's order to evacuate the Oceti Sakowin Camp was to take effect. The Obama Administration also announced that the US Army Corps would not grant Dakota Access LLC the last remaining easement it needed to drill underneath the Missouri River.
© Joel Angel Juarez/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire