Megan Wittman, megan.wittman@sierraclub.org
Bismarck, ND – Yesterday, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, partners, and advocates gathered in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) outside of a public hearing by the U.S. Army Corps. Over one hundred people gathered calling on the Biden Administration to shut down the dangerous pipeline.
The Dakota Access Pipeline was built without adequate Tribal consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes, trouncing on treaty rights and burdening tribes and nearby communities with enormous risk. At nearly 1,200 miles, DAPL is one of the largest oil pipelines in the country, carrying 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day extracted from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota. Transporting and burning the oil has a significant impact on global emissions contributing towards climate change, and DAPL threatens access to clean drinking water for millions of people.
At the public hearing, 103 people testified against the pipeline. The U.S. Army Corps only allowed people to speak to a stenographer behind a curtain. Water protectors and community members held space outside and in the hearing room to speak to those present on their own terms. The U.S. Army Corps will continue to accept public comments on its recently released draft environmental impact statement.
“The Dakota Access Pipeline needs to be shutdown at all costs, as long as it operates it will continue to put our communities at risk– it is a threat to our waterways, and we will continue to denounce the Dakota Access Pipeline. It goes against our rights, not just basic human rights but our Treaty rights. We as Indigenous Peoples are considered expendable to Energy Transfer, its partners, the oil and gas industry, and politicians.
“It is not about if the pipeline breaks and leaks, it’s when. Our children and the next seven generations’ lives will be affected by this pipeline and I want to protect our and their futures by ensuring clean drinking water, land, and air to breathe," said Morgan Brings Plenty (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), Digital Organizing Fellow at the Indigenous Environmental Network.
“Shutting down the Dakota Access Pipeline is an essential step in the fight against fossil fuel. This dangerous, dirty oil pipeline has been interfering with Tribal sovereignty and threatening our water resources for six years, and continues to operate without valid easement. The Dakota Access Pipeline is one of the most urgent climate issues facing our country, and the Biden Administration must shut down the pipeline immediately," said Cathy Collentine, Director of the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign at Sierra Club.
Please contact Megan Wittman at megan.wittman@sierraclub.org for inquiries and/or pictures from the gathering and public hearing.
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.