The US Army is seeking public comments on the Dakota Pipeline. It will publish them in two weeks. Be sure to put “NOI Comments, Dakota Access Pipeline Crossing” in the subject line.
Email all comments to:
gib.a.owen.civ@mail.mil
Or you can send them thru the Sierra Club, though it will sign you up to receive email from them.
sierra.secure.force.com/...
I already submitted my comments below. Feel free to use them as a model or quote or paraphrase from them.
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Hello,
I and many others across America and the world are strongly opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline for the following reasons:
1. The pipeline has already destroyed Lakota sacred sites, with no regard for Lakota graves and sites for ceremony.
2. The route of the pipeline is an example of environmental racism, rerouting it away from a predominantly white town to next to an Indian reservation.
3. The risks of a spill or leak are far too great, and endanger the water supplies, environment, and livelihood of some of the most vulnerable and poorest parts of the nation.
4. The local Lakota population was not given adequate notice, and this pipeline is being built over their very strenuous objections.
5. This pipeline is in violation of longstanding treaties between the US and sovereign Lakota people.
6. The opposition to this pipeline is not only tribal, it is national and international, coming from not only Lakota but:
Over 80 declarations from other Native tribes;
The National Congress of American Indians representing over 500 recognized tribes;
Indigenous peoples in Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand;
Non-Native supporters in the US, Europe, and Japan;
Numerous religious groups and labor unions;
Over 2,000 military veterans, Native and non-Native, who deployed to support NoDAPL;
Celebrity supporters such as Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Tim McGraw, the daughter of ex President Barack Obama, Malia Obama, and three former presidential candidates; Senator Bernie Sanders, ex Vice President Al Gore, and Reverend Jesse Jackson.
9. There is a huge conflict of interest involved. Donald Trump is heavily invested in the company building the pipeline, and they in turn contributed heavily to his presidential campaign. Should this pipeline be built, it could be added to the charges of impeachment from office for Donald Trump, one more example of his violation of the Constitution.
10. The NoDAPL movement has already been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I know this is so because I was the one who publicly nominated them, as I am eligible to do so as an Associate Professor of History.
Submitted respectfully,
Dr. Alton Carroll
Associate Professor of History
Northern Virginia Community College