Standing Rock Leaders Mark DAPL Protest Anniversary, Emphasize Renewable Shift

Leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reflected on the decade-long legacy of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests this week, stating the movement awakened global awareness while underscoring a continued tribal push for renewable energy sovereignty. The reflections occurred at the first "People of the Sun" event hosted by the nonprofit Indigenized Energy at the Prairie Knights Casino on the Standing Rock Reservation on Thursday, September 17, 2026.

Nola Taken Alive, a Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council representative-at-large, acknowledged the pipeline's continued operation but pointed to a broader impact. “The oil is still flowing. The pipeline hasn’t been shut down, but there’s something really powerful that has happened, even more powerful than that, is of course the world has been awoken,” Taken Alive told the audience, according to the North Dakota Monitor.

The event commemorated the protests that drew thousands to southern North Dakota in 2016 and 2017. Opponents, led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, argued the multistate pipeline threatened the tribe's water supply and sacred sites—claims pipeline developer Energy Transfer has long denied. The protests, which included chaotic brushes with law enforcement near the pipeline's Missouri River crossing, resulted in hundreds of arrests, though many charges were later dismissed.

Cody Two Bears, founder and CEO of Indigenized Energy, framed the event as a response to historical challenges. He said he wanted it held in a “frontline community that has been through the atrocities of extraction, the atrocities of dealing with people that have come in and devastated our lands, our water, our earth.” He cited inflation, rising energy costs, and federal cuts as pressures on tribal communities, stating Indigenous people are “being forced to have to deal with energy systems that we don’t particularly agree with."

The gathering highlighted a tangible shift toward renewables on the reservation. A video featured the Buffalo Sun project, where Indigenized Energy installed solar panels to power the buffalo barn of Wozu, a tribal food and culture effort founded by Dave Archambault II, who was tribal chairman during the DAPL protests.

While the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline remains a critical artery moving over 500,000 barrels of Bakken crude daily to market, the tribal event signals enduring opposition and an evolving energy landscape in North Dakota. Legal fallout also persists a decade later, with court cases, including lawsuits between Energy Transfer and environmental group Greenpeace, still lingering in connection with the protests.

For Bakken operators, the anniversary is a reminder of the significant social and regulatory challenges major infrastructure projects can face, even after completion. The tribal focus on energy sovereignty and local renewable projects represents a parallel development track in the state's energy sector.