Andrew Cullen
The Cannonball River that runs through North Dakota, so named for its geological features that resemble cannonballs, is one of many tributaries of the Missouri River. A long and cherished history of Native American tribes camping along its banks and made their livings. Today is no different.
Since April, over 1,200 activists, many of whom are members of the Standing Rock Reservation, have camped along the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball Rivers, creating a community and engaging in solidarity against the Dakota Access Pipeline Project, which is being dubbed the ‘‘New Keystone XL.’’
Political opposition is small but growing. Vermont senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I) spoke out against the project on August 27 because of the pipeline’s impact on climate change, and the indigenous tribes who will be disproportionately affected. He, along with Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva of the Natural Resources Committee, have been the only senator and representative in Congress to do so thus far.
While smaller in range and entirely within the United States--crossing North and South Dakota, Iowa, and terminating in Illinois--it is no less dangerous and destructive than Keystone XL would have been, and is being met with vehement opposition from tribal and environmental groups who are engaging in actions nationwide.
Spanning more than 1,000 miles and crossing 50 counties in four states, the pipeline would deliver 570,000 barrels of the dirtiest Bakken crude oil to its terminus in the central Illinois town of Patoka. The pipeline’s estimated cost is $3.7 billion, paid for by Energy Transfer Partners, a Fortune 500 natural gas and propane corporation based in Dallas, Texas. The company claims it has acquired all the legal authority necessary to proceed with the project, as the route continues to be graded and prepped for building.
Since Keystone would have crossed an international border, it required presidential approval and a stricter environmental review. Dakota Access is domestic, and developers have sought its approval under a different process. Tribal leaders claim the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t give them the chance to provide their input. The Public Utilities Boards in each of the four affected states have used eminent domain rights to seize land if it is not voluntarily sold by the owner.
In July, the final permit needed from the Army Corps to build the pipeline was issued to the four states, after Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP-12), a little-known loophole, was used to break the project up into individual chunks. This translated into a fast- track approval, the kind that popped up during the Keystone XL debate, and seems to be the oil companies’ perfect skirt around the fervent backlash from opposing parties, including last week’s stream of letters to President Obama, saying the Corps approved the project using a fast-track process that was inadequate given its size and the many sensitive areas it would cross.
Additionally, NWP-12 is updated every five years by the Army Corps. Every reissue comes in the form of a 50-page environmental assessment report that is supposed to cover all water crossings that will be affected. Despite this, no mention is made of crude oil or oil spills. There is also no tribal consultation upon each permit issuance, all of which are kept to a project level. Projects such as this are dependent on private contractors hired by Energy Transfer to make the decision if areas that are deemed culturally important would be impacted. Furthermore, since no analysis from the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) was utilized, there would be no opportunity for public engagement, commentary, or impact review.
Jan Hasselman, an environmental lawyer with Earthjustice who is representing the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, said, “The law doesn’t give the tribes veto power over anything, it gives them the right to have a dialog around their cultural heritage. An injunction for us doesn’t mean no pipeline.
"We're talking about a broad overarching and fundamental failure which is the decision to look very narrowly at environmental impacts at a few specific locations rather than the pipeline as a whole,"Hasselman said of the Army Corps' assessment.
The pipeline’s original proposed route did not pass through the Standing Rock Reservation. Philip Strobel, National Environmental Policy Act regional compliance director for the EPA, wrote a March 11 letter to the Army Corps. Coupled with their denial of an added amount of time to voice opposition against the pipeline via the Army Corps this has created a common thread among the Standing Rock Sioux and the activists holding vigil with them. North Dakota Public Service Commission documents show the route upstream of Bismarck in a May 29, 2014 map by Energy Transfer.
The company later rejected this route, citing a number of factors, including more road and wetland crossings, a longer pipeline, and higher costs. Also listed as a concern was the close proximity to wellheads providing Bismarck's drinking water supply.
The permits are nearly finalized, though congressional notification is needed in order to comply with the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, which authorizes and governs leasing of public lands for developing deposits of coal, petroleum, natural gas, and other hydrocarbons. These authorizations are still in the works.
The Army Corps review also ignored a major fact: that tribes have already stated that these surveys were riddled with flaws and inaccuracies. Three other federal agencies have sent letters to the Corps and are displaying the same inflamed and outraged reactions of over the their flagrant disregard for both tribal and environmental rights, as well as a lack of compliance with federal consultation policies.
Canadian oil giant Enbridge, which was responsible for the July 2010 derailment of a train carrying tar sands crude oil that spilled into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, has stated it will join forces with Marathon Petroleum. Together, they will merge as dual shareholders for the new Dakota pipeline.
The pipeline has also met resistance from Iowa farmers and property owners elsewhere along its route whose land is being taken by eminent domain.
Construction on a section that would run beneath the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, has been halted under orders from the sheriff of North Dakota’s Morton County, Kyle Kirchmeier. He said protesters, nearly 30 of whom have been arrested in recent weeks, were creating safety issues.
“Every time there’s a project of this magnitude so the nation can benefit, there’s a cost,” said Dave Archambault, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, who was among those arrested. “That cost is born by tribal nations.”
Archambault published an op-ed in the New York Times on August 24 that provides perspective from a homeowner whose land the pipeline would cross.
The pipeline is currently routed 10 miles upstream of Fort Yates, which is the county seat and tribal headquarters of the Standing Rock Sioux, who rely on the Missouri River for drinking water, irrigation, and fish.
Reuben George, a member of Vancouver, British Columbia’s Tsleil-Waututh Nation had originally planned to visit a community in the neighboring province of Alberta to meet with tribal allies in Fort McMurray, where TransCanada has waged its environmental genocide in pursuit of tar sands. He cancelled the trip to meet with the Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota instead. He writes in a September update, "We had six tribal police cars escort 20 vehicles carrying the totem pole and our chiefs from Washington State into the Standing Rock Camp. We were greeted with tears, hugs, and warriors calls by the thousands of people who have been standing strong for our lands. Beautiful times we had standing together with our relations. Today the totem pole crew are off to Cheyenne River in South Dakota, then our final destination of Winnipeg, Manitoba, on September 5-7."
Among the current residents of the camp are:
Nantinki Young, who goes by Tink, is a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe from South Dakota and runs the cook shack at the camp. Winona, who did not give her last name, is a Penobscot from Maine. She left there on August 29 and drove 2,100 miles to put together a recycling program for the protest camp.
Clyde Bellecourt, 80, an Ojibwe from Minnesota, and a founder of the American Indian Movement, was involved in the infamous 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
“My life is almost over, but there’s fresh energy here,” he said. “Save the children—that’s what this is all about.”
A confrontation between protesters and construction workers near Lake Oahe in North Dakota, involving pepper spray, security dogs, and mass violence, prompted the tribe to demand a temporary break of construction.
On September 3, construction crews working on the pipeline destroyed and demolished the Standing Rock Sioux’s camp, bringing with them private security mercenaries and their guard dogs, who attacked many of the activists and tribal members present.
In retaliation, attorneys for Energy Transfer Partners filed court documents last Tuesday morning denying that workers have destroyed any cultural sites.
Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein was involved in the mass rally, spray-painting the words ‘‘I approve this message’’ onto one of the necks of the bulldozers responsible for uprooting and destroying the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, in a blatant and highly symbolic outcry attacking the business-as-usual policies of Energy Transfer Partners as well as the endorsing of such measures by establishment politicians.
“I hope the North Dakota authorities press charges against the real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs,” she said. Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka were both arrested on September 3 for criminal trespassing, which is considered a misdemeanor. A second arrest was issued on September 10, this time to investigative journalist Amy Goodman, host of the widely acclaimed news program Democracy Now!
Says Goodman, “This is an unacceptable violation of freedom of the press. I was doing my job.”
On September 6, Federal Judge Boasberg ruled that work will stop between State Highway 1806 and 20 miles east of Lake Oahe, though work will continue west of the highway because he believes the Army Corps of Engineers lacks jurisdiction on private land.
The request granted by Boasberg differs from the tribe's broader push that challenges federal regulators' decision to grant permits to the operators of the four-state pipeline. Boasberg issued a full opinion on that lawsuit last Friday, September 9, saying he did not have jurisdiction to suspend activities on both sides of the highway.
In a statement, Standing Rock Sioux chairman David Archambault said, "We are disappointed that the U.S. District Court’s decision does not prevent [the pipeline] from destroying our sacred sites as we await a ruling on our original motion to stop construction of the pipeline."
It isn’t just the oil companies that will benefit from the construction of the pipeline. A report from Food &Water Watch disclosed no less than 40 financial institutions are funding the pipeline’s construction. Energy Transfer Partners has a revolving credit line of $3.75 billion toward expanding its oil and gas infrastructure holdings, with commitments from 26 banks, and their equity unit has a credit line with an additional $1.5 billion from these same financial establishments. Sunoco Logistics has a credit line with $2.5 billion in commitments from 24 banks. In total, that’s $10.25 billion in loans and credit facilities from 40 banks directly supporting the companies building the pipeline.
Last year, when President Obama rejected Keystone XL, he reiterated his repeated conclusions that tar sands projects are not in our national interest if they contribute to carbon pollution and climate change, and noted that if we are to achieve a safe climate future for all, we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
A few months later, Secretary of State John Kerry stated he does not see the need for additional pipelines across the United States-Canadian border. His words align with President Obama’s oft-touted climate test for dirty fuels projects and underscores that all pipeline proposals must be rejected to protect our climate, indigenous and non-indigenous communities, and our planet.
Acting against these climate policies would be inconsistent with current domestic climate goals, the global pact set in Paris, and the recent commitment President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made to transition our countries off of fossil fuels.
From leading the world to act on climate in Paris, to designating his 26th national monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906 (more than any other president in history), to ending coal leasing on federal lands, the Obama administration has established an environmental legacy that is exemplary, though by no means without room for improvement. The same can be said for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
It is within this legacy that in just a few short years, we have moved from accepting pipeline expansion as inevitable, to rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, and now, questioning the need for pipeline expansion entirely.
On September 9, shortly after Judge Boasberg rejected a request from the Standing Rock Sioux for a court order to block the project, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, and Army Corps of Engineers issued a joint statement that temporarily stops all construction bordering Lake Oahe on the Missouri River, which is the reservation’s sole source of potable water. The pipeline was originally supposed to be routed under the river, making a leak highly probable.
President Obama demanded that more environmental impact statements be completed under the jurisdiction of NEPA, as well as cultural impact statements under the jurisdiction of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
“This Court does not lightly countenance any depredation of lands that hold significance to the Standing Rock Sioux,” Boasberg concluded at the end of a 58-page ruling. “Aware of the indignities visited upon the Tribe over the last centuries, the Court scrutinizes the permitting process here with particular care. Having done so, the Court must nonetheless conclude that the Tribe has not demonstrated that an injunction is warranted here. The Court, therefore, will issue a contemporaneous Order denying the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction.”
Furthermore, the three agencies called for “serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects.” The statement announced “formal, government-to-government consultations” this fall that would examine what the federal government can do “to ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related reviews and decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources, and treaty rights,” and whether new legislation was needed to meet the goal of meaningful consultation.
“Our hearts are full. This is an historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and for tribes across the nation,” David Archambault said in an elated statement. “Today, three federal agencies announced the significant decision to respect tribal sovereignty and stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Army Corps land."
The fight to stop the pipeline's progress through tribal lands was not over, he said that at least the tribe would get a fair hearing.
“Our voices have been heard,” said Archambault. “The Obama administration has asked tribes to the table to make sure that we have meaningful consultation on infrastructure projects. 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.
“I walk through the camps and I am filled with gratitude for the love and care that thousands have shown in this fight,” he said. “I want to share with supporters that we at Standing Rock are thankful. We are blessed by your continued support. Let us remain in peace and solidarity as we work to permanently protect our water.”
Take action: Demand that the Army Corps and the White House work in tandem to utilize their right and responsibility to conduct a thorough, honest, environmental impact statement. Our allies have said that they appreciate the previous work done by Obama to rekindle tribal relations. Optimistic words on their part. This is not how his presidency should end.