Tribes march in Seattle to back Standing Rock Sioux

As Kshama Sawant has put it, Standing Rock is the front line of ecological justice in the U.S. These protests are about protecting the rights of some of the poorest people in the country to clean drinking water, to land and to a future that is not owned by the big banks.

The local drop-off will be at 4 p.m. Monday at Honest Weight Coop on Watervliet Avenue, Albany.

The corps also issued a ruling on Friday granting the tribes a temporary permit that allows demonstrators to legally protest on federal lands managed by the agency.

The United National Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is calling on the US government to allow the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to have a say regarding the $3.8billion pipeline, which has been under construction since last spring, with no environmental-impact statement or comprehensive permit review having been conducted.

The tribe wants to block the pipeline because it could cross sacred ground and burial sites and could pose health problems. But until the pipeline is stopped, tribes will continue to remain in the camp as self-declared “water protectors”.

Stein said the fight to stop the pipeline is one of the “one of the defining climate justice fights” in the US, and the Obama administration’s decision to halt part of the pipeline temporarily pending a review is not a win for the tribe. Carey Flack, a Price College of Business senior and organizer of the rally, said she wanted to mobilize and educate people about the pipeline issue.

However, reports from the Bismarck Tribune have revealed that the pipeline’s original proposed route would have crossed the Missouri River about 10 miles north of Bismarck.

The Dakota Access pipeline would transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to Dallas-based Energy Transfer, the parent company of Dakota Access.

White Crane said that people are now realizing the truth that Native Americans have known all this time. It would move more than half a million barrels of crude oil daily through the Dakotas, Iowa, and into a hub in IL. “Water is sacred, water is what everyone needs, not just us”.

On federally controlled land in Cannon Ball, N.D., about an hour south of the state capitol, tribal members have erected a camp to protest the pipeline, offering prayers that it does not get built.

Michael Johnson of Monterey also hopes to head to Standing Rock next week. ETP’s project skirts that state, proceeding diagonally across South Dakota and Iowa before reaching IL. It has been called the largest gathering of Native Americans in a century. “They’re anxious about threats to their water, to the planet, and to their land rights”. However, during a video interview Wednesday morning on their auto ride back to Arizona, she said the experience was “really worth” the sacrifice.

“We’ll be here every Monday”, Renner said. “They’re blowing up the river so that they can make a profit, and it’s not a profit for the people”.