‘This Is the #NoDAPL Last Stand’: Tribe to Sue as Actions Planned Nationwide

February 8, 2017   |   admintam

(COMMONDREAMS) The Trump administration “will be held accountable in court” for its decision to grant the final easement on the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), Indigenous people and environmental allies vowed Tuesday.

And with actions planned nationwide on Wednesday, the administration won’t get off in the court of public opinion, either.

“The drinking water of millions of Americans is now at risk,” said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, following the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ announcement (pdf) that it would give the official go-ahead within 24 hours. “We are a sovereign nation and we will fight to protect our water and sacred places from the brazen private interests trying to push this pipeline through to benefit a few wealthy Americans with financial ties to the Trump administration.”

In granting the easement, the Army Corps halted (pdf) the preparation of an environmental review ordered by the Obama administration. The Standing Rock tribe, which says DAPL threatens its clean water supply and violates Indigenous treaty rights, pledged to “challenge any easement decision on the grounds that the [environmental impact statement, or EIS] was wrongfully terminated.”

“Trump’s reversal of that decision continues a historic pattern of broken promises to Indian tribes and unlawful violation of treaty rights,” added Jan Hasselman of Earthjustice, lead attorney for the tribe. “They will be held accountable in court.”

Other next steps, according to the Standing Rock statement, include asking the court for DAPL-operator Energy Transfer Partners “to disclose its oil spill and risk assessment records for full transparency and review by the public,” and, “if DAPL is successful in constructing and operating the pipeline, the tribe will seek to shut the pipeline operations down.”

The tribe is not alone in its outrage. Multiple environmental groups voiced their opposition to the decision, while Democratic members of the House and Senate natural resources committees wrote a letter to President Donald Trump expressing their own dismay.

“This blatant disregard for federal law and our country’s treaty and trust responsibilities to Native American tribes is unacceptable,” the lawmakers wrote. “We strongly oppose this decision and any efforts to undermine tribal rights. We urge you to immediately reverse this decision and follow the appropriate procedures required for tribal consultation, environmental law, and due process.” Signatories included Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), as well as Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Donald Beyer (D-Va.).

Grijalva, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, also issued a separate statement: “Before the Women’s March and before thousands of people protested at airports, the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies were camping in the freezing cold to defend their rights,” he said. “The Obama Administration heard those concerns and agreed to take a step back; this Administration is ignoring them. In his first few weeks in office our new president has built a resume of discrimination, falsehoods, and sloppy work, and now the decision to trample the sovereignty of our First Americans is the latest entry on a growing list of shameful actions.”

A protest in front of the White House is planned for 5:00pm Wednesday, along with more than 30 actions taking place around the country on what the Indigenous Coalition at Standing Rock has dubbed “an international day of emergency actions to disrupt business as usual and unleash a global intersectional resistance to fossil fuels and fascism.”

“This is the #NoDAPL last stand,” the group declared online.

Find an action near you here.

“Donald Trump will not build his Dakota Access Pipeline without a fight,” said Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “The granting of an easement, without any environmental review or tribal consultation, is not the end of this fight—it is the new beginning. Expect mass resistance far beyond what Trump has seen so far.”

Goldtooth continued:

The granting of this easement goes against protocol, it goes against legal process, it disregards more than 100,000 comments already submitted as part of the not-yet-completed environmental review process—all for the sake of Donald Trump’s billionaire big oil cronies. And, it goes against the treaty rights of the entire Seven Councils Fires of the Sioux Nations.

Donald Trump has not met with a single Native nation since taking office. Our tribal nations and Indigenous grassroots peoples on the frontlines have had no input on this process. We support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and stand with them at this troubling time.

In addition, a Native Nations March on Washington is in the works for March 10. “Our fight is no longer at the North Dakota site itself,” said Archambault. “Our fight is with Congress and the Trump administration. Meet us in Washington on March 10.”

An energetic divestment campaign, urging banks to pull their funding for the controversial project, is also gaining steam.

On that front, the Seattle City Council voted 9-0 on Tuesday to cut banking ties with Wells Fargo because of its role as a DAPL lender. “People might argue that Seattle’s $3 billion account is just a blip on the radar for Wells Fargo, but this movement is poised to scale up,” Hugh MacMillan, a senior researcher at Food & Water Watch, told YES! Magazine. “I think you’ll see more cities following Seattle’s lead.”

---

This article (‘This Is the #NoDAPL Last Stand’: Tribe to Sue as Actions Planned Nationwide) by Deirdre Fulton originally appeared on CommonDreams.org and is licensed Creative Commons 3.0. The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: L May. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org

#NoDAPL Last Stand: Final Construction Could Begin Today As Army Corp Grants Easement

Cannon Ball, ND — Final construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline could begin as soon as today, now that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filed a notice of intent on Tuesday to grant Energy Transfer Partners the easement necessary to drill under the Missouri River’s Lake Oahe reservoir.

In short, the Army Corps failed to uphold a December announcement it would complete a full environmental impact assessment as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe had requested, and has instead abruptly sided with the Trump administration for Big Oil over environmental concerns and treaty rights.

Although the USACE announcement merely codifies an executive memorandum issued by President Trump — which called for completion of both the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile Dakota Access and the Keystone XL Pipelines — just days after he came to office, the significance in the ability for ETP to complete construction of the notorious pipeline cannot be overstated.

Acting Secretary of the Army David Speer told Congress he plans to grant the easement to the pipeline’s owner for the next 30 years.

In the notice to federal court, USACE states it will “waive its policy to wait 14 days after Congressional notification before granting” the easement to ETP, which could feasibly begin drilling under Lake Oahe sometime today.

“The Obama administration correctly found that the tribe’s treaty rights needed to be respected, and that the easement should not be granted without further review and consideration of alternative crossing locations,” Jan Hasselman, lead attorney for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, explained, quoted by Native News Online.

“Trump’s reversal of that decision continues a historic pattern of broken promises to Indian tribes and violation of treaty rights. They will be held accountable in court.”

Court may be the last remaining option for those who oppose the pipeline. Several pieces of litigation over Dakota Access remain stalled in federal courts, but will not have teeth should ETP resume construction the moment USACE gives the official green light.

Both the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes responded to the disappointing but expected development, with Standing Rock Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II — himself the subject of controversy — stating,

“The drinking water of millions of Americans is now at risk. We are a sovereign nation and we will fight to protect our water and sacred places from the brazen private interests trying to push this pipeline through to benefit a few wealthy Americans with financial ties to the Trump administration.

“Americans have come together in support of the Tribe asking for a fair, balanced and lawful pipeline process. The environmental impact statement was wrongfully terminated. This pipeline was unfairly rerouted across our treaty lands. The Trump administration – yet again – is poised to set a precedent that defies the law and the will of Americans and our allies around the world.”

In a press release, Cheyenne River Tribe Chairman Harold C. Frazier, asserted,

“The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe fully intends to fight DAPL until all legal avenues have been exhausted. While the federal government chooses to disregard the laws made to govern themselves, we will respect those laws and continue to legally resist the destruction of homes, people, and culture.

“The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has also received a letter from TransCanada (KXL) stating they filed a Presidential Permit application on 27 January 2017. It is clear that the coyotes which have been hiding in the shadows are taking advantage of this full lunacy. We will have to renew our fight and spend more of our precious resources resisting this onslaught yet again. Resources that would be better spent building institutions that preserve our culture, language, beliefs and way of life.

“While we are disappointed that the American government has failed us, we are holding on to the hope that the American people will not.”

READ MORE:  Breaking: Emergency Call to Action at Standing Rock as Police Violently Attack Prayer Ceremony

Subject of months of protests worldwide, and appalling violence by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department-led, multi-state coalition of police against water protectors occupying space to halt construction, Dakota Access will now cross under the water source of the Standing Rock Reservation and 18 million people downstream.

While Energy Transfer Partners duplicitously claims the pipeline won’t leak and the path under the reservoir through bedrock is perfectly safe, its own pipeline safety and accident record — and that of the oil and gas industry — belies unnecessary risk in situating fossil fuel infrastructure near bodies of clean water.

Over 9,000 ‘significant’ spills occurred over the last 30 years, alone, and that figure doesn’t account for moderate and minor accidents with damage adding up over time. According to Richard Stover, an environmental advocate and former research astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who assisted CityLab in compiling and analyzing data to map the information, “these accidents have resulted in 548 deaths, 2,576 injuries, and over $8.5 billion in financial damages.”

With justifiable concerns regarding the safety of DAPL, thousands of Native American, Indigenous, and non-Native water protectors have visited camps near Standing Rock over the months since Camp of the Sacred Stones was erected for youth in April 2016.

Police have repeatedly attacked groups of water protectors with nearly every supposed less-than-lethal weapon and munition available — including water cannons in sub-freezing temperatures — leaving scores injured, including a few permanently.

Camp populations dwindled for some time, particularly amid North Dakota’s unforgiving winter conditions, but hundreds still remain encamped near Standing Rock — both in staid opposition to DAPL and for the tremendous cleaning of camps ahead of spring flooding.

News construction on the contentious pipeline could resume as early as Wednesday led a coalition of water protectors to issue a worldwide Call to Action today, February 8, as a collective last stand:

“The Indigenous Coalition at Standing Rock is calling for February 8th to be an international day of emergency actions to disrupt business as usual and unleash a global intersectional resistance to fossil fuels and fascism.  Connect with other struggles.  Think long-term movement building.  We are in this for the long haul.

“The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has consistently asked for people to go home, and we understand this.  Regardless, water protectors remain on the ground at the Sacred Stone Camp, determined to stop the black snake, and we support them.  If you go, expect police violence, mass arrests, felony charges for just about anything, abuse while in custody, targeted persecution and racial profiling while driving around the area, etc.

“We are calling for emergency actions all over the world. PLEASE, THIS IS OUR LAST STAND. Please visit everydayofaction.org to find or register an action wherever you are. Check out our world action map to join the mass distributed actions” planned for today.

Indeed, it’s now entirely feasible police and National Guard forces could effect the ultimate crackdown on camps and perform mass arrests — though how this will play out is anyone’s guess.

Emphatically, however, what has been made plain is U.S. government makes no qualms over its imperialistic policies against Native and Indigenous peoples — and that environmental concerns and human rights become moot when Big Oil stands to profit.

“All of our hearts are broken,” lamented Linda Black Elk, part of the water protector healer council, in a video on the Army Corps’ decision. “I’m just going to ask you guys to keep us all in your prayers. Pray for the water. Pray for the people. Pray for the water protectors. Pray for the tribe.”

North Dakota Lawmakers Want to Legalize Running Over Protesters

House Bill Number 1203 (pdf) states that, “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a driver of a motor vehicle who unintentionally causes injury or death to an individual obstructing vehicular traffic on a public road, street, or highway, is not guilty of an offense.”

The bill is slated to be heard by the North Dakota’s House Transportation Committee on Friday.

Rep. Keith Kempenich (R-Bowman), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, told the Bismarck Tribune on Wednesday, “[The roads are] not there for the protesters. They’re intentionally putting themselves in danger.”

“It’s shifting the burden of proof from the motor vehicle driver to the pedestrian,” Kempenich said.

Tara Houska, an Indigenous water protector and attorney who has resided at the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) resistance camps since August, told NBC News that the bill was “a direct violation of our First Amendment rights.”

“It’s shocking to see legislation that allows for people to literally be killed for exercising their right to protest in a public space,” said Houska, who also serves as the national campaigns director for Honor the Earth, an Indigenous-focused environmental nonprofit.

Water protectors at times blocked roads leading to DAPL construction sites as part of the resistance to the pipeline. Blocking traffic is also an occasional tactic of various environmental and human rights movements.

Houska also criticized another bill in the legislative lineup that would require North Dakota’s attorney general to sue the federal government to recoup some of the cost of policing the months-long DAPL protests.

“These [bills] are meant to criminalize the protests with no real concern for constitutional law,” she said.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II added, “The state claims they want to work closely with the tribe on repairing our relationship with them. Clearly that is not happening when legislation that impacts us is being drafted without consultation, consent, or even basic communication.”

Allison Renville, an activist from the Lakota nation, saw the bills as an insult to sovereign Native American communities, and expressed concern about the recent naming of Republican Sen. John Hoeven, a supporter of the DAPL pipeline and fossil fuel industry, as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

“This is a really scary time for Indian Country,” Renville told NBC News. “To have such an avid supporter of the oil industry who has consistently stated his support for extractive industry projects on Native lands named to the position as chairman is akin to stepping on our sovereignty.”

BREAKING: Rogue Tribal Council Votes to Evict NoDAPL Camp, Use Donated Funds to Pay Off Debt

Cannon Ball, ND — In an astonishingly abrupt move, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Council went rogue and voted to shut down the Camp of the Sacred Stones  — the original encampment set up by Indigenous youth — and to apply all funds donated in support of the camps to pay off the tribe’s debts.

As LaDonna Brave Bull Allard — head of what has become known as Sacred Stone and owner of the property on which it sits — said in a statement at the council meeting today in sharp protest of the motions,

“This is supposed to be the time of prayer and gathering of the people to stand for the water as we fight for our water and against this billion dollar company Dakota Access Pipeline. This is the time for our nation to heal together and develop relationships with our nations and allies.

“This is not the time for betrayal, negotiation, nor compromise with a company that does not know honesty and will only destroy the world around you, destroy the future for our children and the world.”

Standing Rock Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II — long believed by some to be corrupt — claimed in the meeting the camps have rampant health and hygiene issues and must be shut down.

“We’re not sitting around taking donations,” Archambault stated, addressing rumors he and other leaders had simply taken donation money for themselves, “but when it comes to the tribe, this council is accountable and responsible for the members it represents — fiscally responsible. So, we’ve always been transparent, whenever resources come to the tribe.”

That assertion has been disputed by among tribal members and other water protectors who have spent time in the camps — particularly as the tribe had claimed in the past it supported opposition to the pipeline’s construction. But after a chain of celebrities, a group of military veterans, and other notable people visited the camp, it seemed too much attention was trained on the tribe — and its politics.

LaDonna, as she is most commonly called by water protectors, continued:

“By July, the call was made out for people to come help Standing Rock with the fight against Dakota Access. Thousands of people came out. The SRST tribe then started with supplies and help at the new camp. The tribe slowly removed all fund or help with Sacred Stone Camp which was okay, we paid for our own porta potties and garbage.”

She added Sacred Stone had hired CPAs to manage donations, set up non-profit status for the camp, and kept track of all receipts from purchases made for winterizing and other purposes. But, as LaDonna added,

“Sacred Stone continued to develop for the long term, getting ready for winter by and getting the camp prepared as we were left out of support from the tribe and the other camps, which was ok.”

Now, two council members under Archambault’s guidance, have proposed a tragic end to the oldest camp in Standing Rock — and the complete removal of all water protectors who have called the site home — some of them since opposition to Dakota Access began.

Indeed, some water protectors gave up their lives to support opposition to Dakota Access — leaving behind jobs, friends, and, in some cases, families for months at a time. Many intended to stay for the duration — until the construction is halted.

Many well-meaning outsiders have also been at least somewhat betrayed, as they would have assumed monetary contributions given in support of the camps would be applied exactly to that — not to the Standing Rock Tribe to do with as it pleased.

So, this sudden move — although not entirely unexpected — sends a shock to the heart of hundreds encamped at Sacred Stone and thousands more enduring the bitter and relentless North Dakota winter in several camps nearby.

Archambault previously used the cover of a delay imposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to declare, falsely, a victory over Dakota Access and attempted to effect a mass evacuation of water protectors. After that announcement, the atmosphere became noticeably hostile at Standing Rock, as leaders seemed to both worry for campers’ safety in the subzero temperatures — and resent their massive presence.

Summarizing, LaDonna stated,

“In the meantime, the resistance to Dakota Access Pipeline was being in the forefront in media and the news. The violence of Dakota Access and Morton County was escalating to major injuries, arrests and attacks. We watched as the world watched as Amnesty International, ACLU, United Nations all came to record what was happening on the ground. We worked with many different media groups, we sponsored Dean, Myron and Unicorn Riot for media. We worked with the youth and their runs to Omaha and Washington DC. We had the world standing with us as we fought a billion dollar company.

“Now here we are on January 5, 2016. We have SRST tribal council making decisions about the camps and the people who came to help them. One motion made by Frank White Bull and Joe Dunn to take the camp funds for the tribal debit, and then motion made by Robert Taken Alive to close Sacred Stone Camp. I object to any decision that is made without consultation with the camps.”

Confirming suspicions, Archambault, White Bull, and Dunn have now broken the ultimate promise — that opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline would last until the ‘black snake’ had been shut down completely — in one stunning move contrary to everything the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe claimed to hold sacred.

It’s imperative to note the tribe council isn’t acting on behalf of all its members as it claims — many want all of the camps to remain in place until the permanent end to Dakota Access.

However, that Water Is Life, Mni Wiconi, is apparently of little concern — for a select group of people — when money and corruption instead take precedence.