Editor’s note: Please see expanded disclosure below about the author and his professional involvement in the pipeline industry.
As a retired Army major general, I know what a challenging job uniformed public service can be. The hazards are enormous, the financial rewards small, and the work never ending. Those who wear the uniform do so out of duty and love of country. Although they do not seek public recognition for their service, they deserve at the very least to be treated as the professionals they are.
In the last several months, one group of extremely hard-working and dedicated U.S. Army professionals serving here in the Midwest has been singled out for consistent and sustained public mistreatment not for any wrongdoing on their part, but as part of an organized campaign to discredit a nearly completed oil pipeline.
These are the men and women who serve in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Omaha District. When companies seek federal approval to build over, through, or under navigable waterways, it is the Army Corps of Engineers that oversees the process.
When the builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline sought approval for crossing the Missouri River and its connecting waterways, the corps was charged with reviewing the applications and ensuring that they were in the public interest as spelled out in multiple federal laws.
The engineers of the Omaha District did this to the letter. Some of the crossings were located near spots identified as containing possible Native American historic or cultural artifacts. By law, corps engineers had to give those proposed crossings increased scrutiny and consult with tribal leaders before approving or denying permits for them.
Army engineers acted with impeccable professionalism throughout this process and even went out of their way to consult with tribal leaders who were difficult to reach. Army engineers ordered construction work moved when Native American artifacts were found nearby. Where no evidence of artifacts was found, Omaha District Commander Col. John Henderson ordered the pipeline company to bring tribal officials on site during construction and to halt work if any previously unknown artifacts were uncovered.
That is the sort of professionalism and dedication that merits recognition and promotion. But some pipeline opponents decided that the only way they could stop the pipeline was to discredit the engineers who approved these crossings.
This summer the Standing Rock Sioux tribe sued in federal court to halt construction on the pipeline, claiming that the Army engineers violated the law by not inspecting the entire pipeline for its potential impact on Native American artifacts.
The legal case was preposterous, as no federal law gives the corps the authority to inspect or stop pipelines on private land outside the corps’ jurisdiction. Nor does any federal law require the corps to consult with tribal officials for projects that are outside its jurisdiction, as 97 percent of the pipeline is.
Predictably, the tribe lost in court in September. It appealed and lost again. The court found that the corps had not only complied fully with all applicable federal laws in approving the permits, but that the permit approvals were reasonable, the corps used appropriate methods for issuing them, and Col. Henderson went beyond the minimum legal requirements to make sure tribal leaders were consulted throughout the process.
That Hail Mary having failed, pipeline opponents have thrown an even more desperate one. Earlier this month Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier demanded that the Army fire Col. Henderson. He claimed the colonel was disrespectful during a phone conversation.
This complaint carries echoes of the Standing Rock Sioux complaint, made in court, that the corps failed to properly consult with the tribe. Documents submitted to the court revealed that this claim was completely false. In truth, Col. Henderson himself made multiple attempts over a year and a half to consult with tribal officials. The records show that those officials were the ones who refused to meet. It was only through the determination of Col. Henderson that the consultations finally were held.
Col. Henderson, a career Army engineer who returned from service in Iraq and Afghanistan with a Bronze Star, has an exemplary record. As Omaha District commander, he has done with distinction the job the American people are paying him to do. But because he happens to be the commander of the district through which this pipeline runs, he has become the target of a small group of activists who have determined to find any way, no matter how far-fetched, to stop the project.
Col. Henderson and all of his engineers deserve better than this. Pipeline opponents have every right to make their voices of opposition heard. They have the right to petition the government for new laws if they don’t like the ones on the books. But they do not have the right to defame a decorated combat veteran because ruining his life would be good for their political agenda.
Retired Maj. Gen. James ‘Spider’ Marks is a Strategic Advisor to Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN), a coalition of oil and infrastructure businesses involved in pipeline development. He is also the chairman of the advisory board at TigerSwan, a security company involved in security for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
