Photo courtesy of Dallas Goldtooth
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has been operating illegally since January, when it lost key permits. This month the Biden administration allowed it to continue to pump crude oil through the Standing Rock Sioux’s ancestral lands and drinking water regardless, putting our climate at further risk.
It’s a deeply disappointing decision. Native American voters helped swing the election for Joe Biden, in part because of his promises to prioritize Tribal consultation on projects like pipelines. Biden also campaigned on the boldest climate platform in history.
During his first months in office, Biden embraced the responsibility to act on the climate crisis and improve relationships with Tribal nations. He rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement minutes after being inaugurated, and swiftly canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline. Less than a week into office, he issued a memorandum on strengthening Tribal consultation, and he nominated the first-ever Indigenous Interior Secretary.
But when it came time to make a decision about the Dakota Access Pipeline, Biden failed to live up to his own commitments on climate and Tribal relations.
In January, a US Court of Appeals found that the Army Corps of Engineers violated federal law by issuing permits for it to cross the Missouri River. The court revoked those permits, and ordered a robust environmental review and impact statement that would examine the pipeline’s impacts on Tribes, climate, and lands and waters in the event of a spill.
At the court hearing earlier this month, the Biden administration had the chance to order this dirty, dangerous pipeline to shut down until the environmental review was complete. It was a first test of the administration’s stance on the Dakota Access Pipeline—and its actions were not encouraging.
Biden chose to continue Donald Trump’s policy of allowing crude to continue to flow through Tribal territory, despite the ongoing harms it causes. Every day the Dakota Access Pipeline operates, it brings us closer to a future of catastrophic climate change. When it spills, as pipelines always do, it will contaminate the drinking water of the Standing Rock Sioux and millions of people downstream.
The Standing Rock Sioux and other Tribes have been fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline for five years, with support from allies in the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations. They have faced down pepper spray, rubber bullets, and cannons that sprayed them with water in freezing temperatures.
They aren’t backing down now, and neither are we. We are calling on President Biden to honor his commitments to Tribal sovereignty and our environment. Join us in telling this administration to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline.