The Tribe Protesting the Dakota Pipeline Is Ready to Defend Its Wireless Network

Fred McLaughlin speaks with a melancholy tinge in his voice. It’s not just caused by his drawn out North Dakotan accent. McLaughlin feels certain that eminent domain practices, which have cleared the path for the Dakota Access Pipeline, are setting up another future showdown. From his back porch on Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation, located near the southern border with South Dakota, McLaughlin can see people arriving to protest against oil being piped under the Missouri River, a source of water for the tribe and 18 million other Americans. But as general manager of Standing Rock Telecom, the tribe-owned local wireless service provider, McLaughlin worries that federal and private entities are coming for the tribe’s cellular spectrum next.

He mapped out this scenario for me while the sun set on the majestic North Dakota plains, closing out a tense day where fellow Native Americans were confronted by the National Guard, private security and militarized police from six states. “It’s a spectacular benefit to have our own telecoms company, and everyone can see this and validate it. It’s a point of pride,” he said. “We as tribal nations have never given up our airspace.” Standing Rock Telecom owns 17 towers and provides month-to-month contracts for 1,600 subscribers (and growing). The strong signal it provides to the reservation, which stretches from Sioux County, North Dakota, to Corson County, South Dakota, covers 3,500 square miles and has played a crucial part in disseminating grassroots media coverage of the pipeline protests.