On Sunday, the Dakota Access Pipeline company violently attacked Indigenous protesters with dogs and pepper spray as they were defending their land and sacred sites.
If this $3.8 billion dollar pipeline is completed, it would transport approximately 500,000 barrels of crude oil every day all the way from oilfields in North Dakota to Illinois, resulting in water contamination of the sacred Mississippi River that is less than a mile from the Standing Rock Nation.
Join us in demanding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revoke all building permits for the dangerous pipeline and that the Dakota Access Pipeline Company cease all construction.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for approving the pipeline and requested a restraining order from the Dakota Access Pipeline Company responsible for the construction. Out of the 1,200 miles the pipeline extends, about 300 miles that touch federal land require these special construction permits.
So far more than 1500 Native Americans and 150 First Nations and Tribes have united to fight the pipeline, or "the black snake." But the pipeline company has been stopping at nothing. It has been bulldozing sacred sites, unleashing dogs to bite Indigenous protesters, and pepper spraying crowds.
Just yesterday, President Obama visited the 20th Annual Environmental Summit and opened his speech citing the wisdom of the Washoe People. Obama even said, "Just as the health of the land and the people are tied together, just as climate and conservation are tied together, we share a sacred connection with those who are going to follow us."
It's time to hold Obama to his word and demand that federal agencies revoke the construction permits for the pipeline.
More information
Standing Rock Sioux sues Corps over oil pipeline permits
Washington Post.
Washington Post.