Helen Red Feather, Wounded Knee Veteran, Photo from Oceti Sakowin Camp
Tuesday February 7, the US Army Corps gave notice of intent to grant the final easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross the Mni Sose (Missouri River).
They are skipping the EIS ordered in December, and skipping the congressional notification period required by law. This is a response to President Trump’s Presidential Memorandum directing the Corps to expedite approval of the project.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe will likely sue and ask for a temporary restraining order to halt construction while the legality of this decision is reviewed in court. In the meantime, DAPL will likely start drilling immediately. The media recently reported that DAPL says their best case scenario timeline is 83 days from easement to oil flow.
Call to Action!
The Indigenous Coalition at Standing Rock is calling for an international day of emergency actions to disrupt business as usual and unleash a global intersectional resistance to fossil fuels and fascism. Connect with other struggles. Think long-term movement building. We are in this for the long haul.
We are calling for emergency actions all over the world. Please visit everydayofaction.org to find or register an action wherever you are. Check out our world action map to join the mass distributed actions TODAY, February 8th and for the next four days.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has consistently asked for people to go home, and we understand this. Regardless, water protectors remain on the ground at the Sacred Stone Camp, determined to stop the black snake, and we support them. If you go, expect police violence, mass arrests, felony charges for just about anything, abuse while in custody, targeted persecution and racial profiling while driving around the area, etc.
We encourage groups across the globe to connect our prayers for the water with other fights against fascism and the domination of people and Mother Earth (deportations, Muslim ban, attacks on labor, deregulation of Wall Street, other fossil fuel projects, censorship of the press and academia, etc)
Choose the target that is most strategic for building long-term collaborative resistance in your local area. Potential targets may include: fossil fuel transportation hubs, city halls, federal buildings, Army Corps offices, banks profiting off DAPL, sheriff's offices that have come to Standing Rock, labor union offices, and other sites intersectional struggle like ICE detention centers, etc.
MESSAGING:
- #RisewithStandingRock….against violations of sovereignty, crimes against Mother Earth, fascism, violation of law, etc.
- Unify the People
- DAPL is Violating Human Rights
- Normalize resistance / We Will Not Be Governed by Tyrants
- Support Tribes’ request for TRO (Temporary Restraining Order)/injunction!
- Continue to elevate what’s happening on the ground in ND -- demonstrate that this is something serious that resonates to all peoples in the face of Trump administration tyranny.
- Resist Trump’s direct attack against indigenous communities with his executive orders re: DAPL & KXL
- Police violence seems inevitable and mass casualties are very likely. The only way to keep people safe is to do the EIS. If not, any blood spilled is on Trump’s hands and the hands of the Corps.
We #Resist to #Thrive.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 8, 2017
CONTACT:
Jade Begay, jade@ienearth.org, 505-699-4791
Nina Smith, nina@megaphonestrategies.com, 301-717-9006
Cannon Ball, ND -- Yesterday, February 7, 2017, the Army Corps of Engineers notified Congress that it will grant an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline in the next 24 hours, trampling a planned environmental and tribal consultation review process.
Statement from Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network:
“Donald Trump will not build his Dakota Access Pipeline without a fight. The granting of an easement, without any environmental review or tribal consultation, is not the end of this fight -- it is the new beginning. Expect mass resistance far beyond what Trump has seen so far.
“The granting of this easement goes against protocol, it goes against legal process, it disregards more than 100,000 comments already submitted as part of the not-yet-completed environmental review process -- all for the sake of Donald Trump’s billionaire big oil cronies. And, it goes against the treaty rights of the entire Seven Councils Fires of the Sioux Nations.
“Donald Trump has not met with a single Native Nation since taking office. Our tribal nations and Indigenous grassroots peoples on the frontlines have had no input on this process. We support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and stand with them at this troubling time.”
You can read that notification letter here: Dakota Access Pipeline Notification - Grijalva
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The Indigenous Environmental Network is an international environmental justice nonprofit that works with tribal grassroots organizations to build the capacity of Indigenous communities. Find out more at: www.ienearth.org |
