It's an unseasonably warm day in October 2024.

Rolling hills covered in golden grasses stretched on either side of Highway 1806 on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

And I'm riding in a truck with Doug Crow Ghost.

He leads the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes Department of Water Resources. Behind us is a truck

pulling a pontoon boat. We're with a crew of people heading to the Missouri River, about 10

miles downstream from the Dakota Access Pipeline, which Doug calls Dappell.

We're documenting that if there's a pipeline break,

Dapples saying that they can get these big skimmer boats on the water

to go up there to start getting rid of the oil.

And we've been saying, hell no, there's no way.

But we're gonna document it anyway

and we're gonna drive along and take pictures of,

there's some dirt certain, they call them, They're trying to find it anyway and we're going to drive along and take pictures of there's some dirt certain...

They call them...

They're trying to find out if the Missouri River is high enough so that emergency boats could clean up an oil spill.

But the catch is, for our plan today to work, we have to be able to get our boat on the river.

And as we arrive at the marina, it becomes clear that a pontoon ride might not be happening today.

Doug starts chatting through the window with the local guy.

Are you freaking kidding me?

It's, you can't, it's unusable.

The water level is too low.

You think I can get that pontoon in there?

...