“Of the many atrocities we as Native Americans have faced and overcame, this is one which will affect not only us but all of mankind. Earth is our mother. We have to protect her.” Virgil Taken Alive (Standing Rock Sioux)
Last fall, the Oceti Sakowin, the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota Nations, and other tribes along the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline celebrated their long hard fought battle over the Black Snake when President Obama rejected its permit for construction.
The multi-year battle saw the birth of a unique alliance between tribes, environmentalist, farmers and ranchers in what was dubbed the Cowboy Indian Alliance. Jointly, through tireless campaigning, awareness raising and direct actions the alliance put a stop to the proposed pipeline that would have brought tar sands crude from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.
Now, just several months later, the Oceti Sakowin, farmers and ranchers find themselves preparing to battle yet another cross country pipeline.
The proposed Dakota Access Pipeline, backed by Texas based Energy Transfer Partners, is a 1,168-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline that would carry Bakken crude from western North Dakota to a distribution hub Illinois on route for refinement in the Gulf Coast.
If built, the Dakota Access Pipeline would transport as much as 450,000 barrels of oil per day with a future capacity of 570,000 barrels per day.
Despite receiving permits for construction from the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, the proposed pipeline has faced fierce opposition from tribes, landowners and ranchers.
Iowa landowners made the pipeline a central topic during the Iowa caucuses and the Standing Rock Sioux tribal government passed a resolution opposing it due to its impacts on drinking water and its violation of the 1868 Ft. Laramie treaty.
More recently, grassroots opposition has spread to efforts of direct action.
On April 1st, hundreds gathered in Ft. Yates on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation to show opposition to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, also known as the Bakken pipeline.
“the Dakota Access Pipeline threatens public health and welfare on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe relies on the waters of the life-giving Missouri River for our continued existence, and the Dakota Access Pipeline poses a serious risk to Mni Sose and to the very survival of our Tribe.” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe resolution opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline
Riders on horseback set out from the tribal administration building traveling dozens of miles to the mouth of the Cannonball River where the projected pipeline will go through.
“We do not need oil to live, but we do need water, and water is a human right and not a privilege.” Waniya Locke (Ahtna Dene, Dakota, Lakota, Anishinaabe)
In addition to crossing the Missouri River, source of water for thousands, twice, the Dakota Access pipeline would also threaten significant sites of historical and cultural significance to many Northern Plains tribes, including the Lakota, Dakota, Mandan, Arikara and Cheyenne.
“the place where pipeline will cross on the Cannonball is the place where the Mandan came into the world after the great flood, it is also a place where the Mandan had their Okipa, or Sundance. Later this is where Wisespirit and Tatanka Ohitika held sundances. There are numerous old Mandan, Cheyenne, and Arikara villages located in this area and burial sites. This is also where the sacred medicine rock [is located], which tells the future.” LaDonna Bravebull Allard (Lakota, Dakota)
According to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal government, the proposed pipeline is in violation of the Ft. Laramie treaty, “the Dakota Access Pipeline violates Article 2 of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty which guarantees that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe shall enjoy the “undisturbed use and occupation” of our permanent homeland, the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.”
Of paramount concern is the threat the pipeline poses to drinking water.
“The more concerning threat is what this pipeline WILL do to the environment. All pipelines break at some point in their lifetime. Pipelines spill their contents. And in some cases, pipelines explode.” Nicole Montclair-Donaghy (Lakota)
On April 28th, Duke University released a study on fracking spills in North Dakota detailing evidence of “widespread and persistent” contamination, with clear effects on downstream water and soil.
Dr. Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment states, “The magnitude of oil drilling in North Dakota is overwhelming. More than 9,700 wells have been drilled there in the past decade. This massive development has led to more than 3,900 brine spills, mostly coming from faulty pipes built to transport fracked wells’ flowback water from on-site holding containers to nearby injection wells where it will be disposed underground.”
After reaching Cannonball, a Spiritual Camp was set up at the point the pipeline crosses the river. Warriors have committed to staying in the spiritual camp until the pipeline is stopped.
“The dangers imposed by the greed of big oil on the people who live along the Missouri river is astounding. When this proposed pipeline breaks, as the vast majority of pipelines do, over half of the drinking water in South Dakota will be affected. How can rubber-stamping this project be good for the people, agriculture, and livestock? It must be stopped. The people of the four bands of Cheyenne River stand with our sister nation in this fight as we are calling on all the Oceti Sakowin or Seven Council Fires to do so with our allies, both native and non-native in opposing this pipeline.” Joye Braun (Cheyenne River)
On April 24th, dozens of runners, primarily youth, set forth from Cannonball, ND, on the Standing Rock Sioux tribe reservation, to embark on a 500-mile relay run to Omaha, NE to deliver a message to the Army Corp of Engineers that they “resist the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline from crossing beneath sacred water [the Missouri River] needed for life.”
Fracking is the new mining, oil the new gold and these pipelines are nothing more than a modern day railroad cutting through tribal lands. The only difference is that now non-Natives are beginning to wake up and realize that what impacts Native peoples, impacts them too, and that Native peoples resistance and opposition to these massive environmentally destructive projects is a fight that seeks to protect them and their future generations as well.
by Wakíƞyaƞ Waánataƞ (Matt Remle- Lakota)
Matt Remle - (Hunkpapa Lakota) - lives in Seattle, WA. He is a writer and editor for Last Real Indians at www.lastrealindians.com and runs an on-line Lakota language program at www.LRInspire.com. He is a father of three and the author of Seattle's Indigenous Peoples' Day resolution and the Seattle city council resolution to call on Congress to enter into reconciliation with Tribe's over the legacy of the Boarding School era. He has been organizing around issues of environmental, social and tribal justice for over 20 years. In 2014, he was awarded Seattle's Individual Human Rights Leader award.