Dakota Access Pipeline, a controversial $3.8 billion dollar megaproject in the United States, has triggered the resistance of numerous activists, environmentalists, worldwide human rights bodies, and thousands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous supporters from across the Medicine Line (the Canada/U.S. border). “Native peoples have suffered generations of broken promises and today the federal government said that national reform is needed to better ensure that tribes have a voice on infrastructure projects like this pipeline”.
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“We have been planning for a long time for any actions no matter where it’s at”.
The lawsuit said the project violates several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act.
But the Standing Rock Sioux, other tribes and environmental groups say that the pipeline could threaten water supplies for millions, since it will cross the Missouri River, as well as harm sacred sites and artifacts.
No one – neither the company, nor the tribe, nor federal agencies – has said.
Brandon Benallie, who is from Black Mesa, made the 1,300-mile drive to North Dakota with a group of eight people at the end of August, stuffing a 15-passenger van, a truck and flatbed trailer with donations, camping gear and firewood. Photo from Camp of the Sacred Stones. Brown said she will continue to bring awareness to the issue because it is unclear what will happen down the line.
According to Sanders, the protest is also “the issue of standing with the people who have been exploited” and “whose treaty rights have been abrogated for years”. “Just as indigenous leaders, landowners, and the climate movement came together to stop Keystone XL, we’re now standing with the Standing Rock Sioux to stop Dakota Access”. It’s also captured the attention of the Obama administration, which last week restricted the company’s access to the site. On Friday, the departments of Justice, Army and Interior said construction of the pipeline should stop until the environmental concerns are fully investigated. “It’s nice to see people coming together, it doesn’t matter what race or ethnicity you’re from, and we’re all standing together as one to help the Standing Rock”, Courtney Littleaxe said. This pipeline would travel through the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s ancestral lands and pass within a half a mile of its current reservation.
President Russell Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez visited the camp two weeks ago while in the area for other meetings and took a Navajo flag to display there, Manus said. “We’re trying to protect our people and future families”, said Hergenrader, who is part Mohawk.
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In its own letter, the Havasupai Tribal Council referenced the tribe’s struggles to preserve its water sources in the Grand Canyon.
