Native Americans are protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation located in the southern part of North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are in court proceedings to try to block a $3.8 billion pipeline project that is going to carry unrefined oil from North Dakota to Illinois for refining. The suit claims that “the pipeline will cause ‘irreparable’ damage to sacred lands at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers. It further alleges that Dakota Access LLC failed its responsibility to adequately consult with tribes before construction in violation of the National Historic Preservation Act. The Missouri River (Standing Rock’s only water source) and ‘water’ itself is of vital cultural importance, the suit adds.”. For months’ people have been doing demonstrations and praying, but now tribal members are trying be more aggressive, some arrest have been made near the pipeline construction zone by the 2.3-million-acre reservation that straddles the North Dakota and South Dakota border.
North Dakota’s homeland security took things further by removing water tanks and even the state-owned trailers from the Dakota Access Pipeline protest campsite on Monday afternoon. This was their main water supply on a day where the temperature rose to over 90 degrees. “I feel like I just got shot down,” said Johnelle Leingang, executive secretary to Standing Rock Sioux Nation Chairman Dave Archambault II and the nation’s emergency response coordinator. “It’s very hurtful," she added, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
The protest has at least have temporarily halted the construction of the Bakken pipeline, which it is also known as. The pipeline is about as large as the Keystone XL pipeline which was previously proposed, and will be built through areas of wildlife and sacred Native American lands like the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Critics of the pipeline claim that it is a major threat to the indigenous life and ecosystems of the area.
Standing Rock spokesperson Steven Sitting Bear said, “I’ve been getting notifications from tribes all over the country that have caravans in route, so it’s continuing to grow.” Many other native tribes have sent letters in support of the protest, some as far as Japan. Last Friday North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple asked federal authorities to help quell the protests. A North Dakota federal court has issued a restraining order on Aug. 18 against the protestors at the request of the company building the pipeline claiming that the wellbeing of the construction crews being at risk.
To me this is really a fight for all of us. This is a fight for climate change, this is a fight for the right of the common people. Large corporations do not care what happens to our land and our people here in this country. The Native Americans have the biggest stake in this fight. They have seen their lands be taken by force from them for centuries.
Honor the sacred.
Honor the Earth, our Mother.
Honor the Elders.
Honor all with whom we share the Earth
Four-leggeds, two-leggeds,
winged ones,
Swimmers, crawlers,
plant and rock people.
Walk in balance and beauty.
Native American proverb
