Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Mark Fox, who spoke earlier Wednesday, said while the reservation he leads has embraced oil development, he also supports the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in asserting its right as a tribal nation to oppose the oil pipeline.
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Last Friday, the Corps of Engineers issued a special use permit for protesters to use Corps land south of the Cannonball River but not the land north of the river where the majority of them are camping, because that land is subject to an existing grazing lease.
Since numerous supporters can not make the trip to North Dakota in person, they wanted to join in prayer and in sending positive thoughts to those protesting.
The controversial pipeline, the letter said, was approved without a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and also without any consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribes in the region who would be directly affected by the infrastructure.
They’re banking on his support again, this time to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.
About 50 law enforcement officers, many in riot gear, formed a blockade in front of the Morton County law enforcement center and later Mandan City Hall when protesters marched there a block away.
Tyler Becker, 20, of Cohoes takes part in a peaceful protest opposing the Dakota Pipeline at the corner of Washington Avenue and State Street in Schenectady Wednesday. “We believe that these institutions are not monolithic, that there are very good people working on the inside that want to make positive change in the world and that’s really what this letter is about, creating space for champions on the inside to demonstrate leadership on climate change and Native concerns”.
The pipeline’s developer, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, said last week it’s committed to completing the crude oil pipeline, which will initially carry 450,000 barrels per day from the Bakken oilfields to a hub in Patoka, Ill., with capacity to expand to 570,000 barrels per day.
“We’re actually making a stand”, he said.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II referenced the September 3 incident multiple times Tuesday as he took the pipeline fight to Geneva, Switzerland, asking the United Nations Human Rights Council to condemn “the deliberate destruction of our sacred places”.
Locally, protests have been peaceful, including a recent gathering at Riley Creek Rest Area near Nauvoo, Ill., where the pipeline will pass across the Mississippi River into IL.
The petitions also claim that Native American groups living along the pipeline’s route were not properly consulted about the project.
“I am here because oil companies are causing the deliberate destruction of our sacred places and burials”.
Over the past few weeks, the resistance movement to stop construction of the US$3.8 billion pipeline has brought together more than 100 Indigenous groups and sparked a wave of worldwide solidarity.
Black cited the environmental assessment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which found that an alternative to cross the Missouri River north of Bismarck would affect affect additional acres of land, require more waterbody crossings and affect more wetlands than crossing at Lake Oahe north of the Standing Rock reservation.
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The Associated Press contributed to this article.
