The DAPL (Standing Rock/"water protectors") protest was essentially because the pipeline went around the reservation instead of across a corner (for $6 million) when the tribe tripled the price after the deal had been worked out. The Pipeline company said they could go around tribal land for that amount and have change left over, and did.
Suddenly, ever square inch of privately owned (non-tribal) land was sacred ground to the tribe, and a pipeline which was to be fed through a hole drilled 90 ft. below the bottom of Lake Oahee, with double the normal wall thickness of the rest of the line became some sort of threat to the water.
When the hooting and hollering and photo-ops were done, trucks had been burned on a bridge damaging the bridge, police had been firebombed, main roads were closed, a million dollars+ damage was done to the construction equipment, and a similar amount of economic harm in killed and injured livestock that had to be destroyed on adjacent ranches. Over 720 semi loads of debris and trash were left behind in an area prone to spring floods, in addition to a dead body wrapped in a blue tarp and dumped in a creek. The cost to the State of North Dakota was over $39,000,000.00.
If AOC wants to 'own' that, go for it.
