After months of protests and demonstrations from the Standing Rock Sioux and other water protectors, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to continue construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

Environmentalists have argued against the introduction of the pipeline because it will be built directly under a lake that is a main water source for Native American communities, as well as cause construction on sacred grounds.

President Obama and military officials offered what many saw as a huge moral victory after it was announced that construction was halted until an alternate route could be found. However, the executives at Energy Transfer Partners, which President Trump had stocks in, believed that construction would continue once he took office.

Trump also signed a number of other executive orders supporting pipeline construction. One of the most important was continuing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that will bring oil from Canada to southern Illinois, according to NBC. Trump also signed an executive order confirming tat the pipelines used will be constructed in the United States.

Before construction was halted, police on the scene in North Dakota resorted to unjust tactics on multiple occasions to assault water protectors who gathered in protest. Grenades and water cannons were used in freezing temperatures, resulting in serious injuries.

The caution of many of the water protectors who refused to leave the site has been justified now that the decision to halt construction was so quickly overturned.

In only his second day of signing executive orders, Donald Trump has reinstated a Global Gag Rule on abortion services and green-lit construction that has been proven to be detrimental to people of color.

Photo Credit: Oakland-based photo journalist, Sunshine