Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Wins Key Court Case In Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance
By
Joe Martino
Joe Martino
In Brief
- The Facts:A key
victory came yesterday for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as a Washington
DC court ruled the Army Corps of Engineers must perform an
Environmental Impact Statement to show the Dakota Access pipeline will
not negatively affect the tribe's land.
- Reflect On:Are we seeing further shifts in the old paradigm of money first and environment second? Are we seeing the power of relentlessly standing up for what you feel will make humanity and nature thrive?
This
is a huge victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota.
Their relentless energy towards having a full environmental impact
statement (EIS) done with regards to the Dakota Access Pipeline that
would run through their land and potentially impact their water supply,
has finally paid off. This will bring the future of the Dakota Access
pipeline into question entirely.
A Washington DC court ruled that the US
army corps of engineers must conduct a full EIS given that
their existing permits violated the National Environmental Policy Act
(Nepa).
“After years of commitment to defending our water and earth, we welcome this news of a significant legal win,” said the tribal chairman, Mike Faith. “It’s humbling to see how actions we took to defend our ancestral homeland continue to inspire national conversations about how our choices ultimately affect this planet.”
You may recall from 2016, the Sioux
Tribe rallied and inspired millions all over the world to help in
getting behind the movement to raise awareness about the environmental
impact of this pipeline. People travelled from all over the world to
join the tribe on the ‘front lines’ as clashes sometimes became violent
between water protectors and police, as well as pipeline workers.
I recall being down in North Dakota
covering this story and was amazed by the sheer amount of people coming
to support, as well as the efforts police were taking to silence
journalists from covering the story. Cell phone jammers were used to
stop those on-site from live streaming what was going on. Independent
media were the only form of media in Standing Rock for months until
eventually, mainstream media showed up. There appeared to be a
long-standing solidarity within mainstream media to portray water
protectors as violent and to avoid telling their side of the story when
it came to the pipeline. This was why independent media was so important
at that time.
In December 2016, the Obama
administration denied permits for the pipeline to cross the Missouri
River and effectively ordered a full EIS to be done in order to
determine what alternative routes could be taken as well as what impact
the pipeline may have on the tribe’s treaty rights. Yet, during the
first week of Donald Trump’s presidency, he signed an executive order to
expedite construction of the pipeline. Construction of the 1,200-mile
pipeline was completed in June 2017.
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Not long after, the tribe challenged the
permits and won. The Army corps of engineers were ordered to redo its
environmental analysis, but they did so without taking
into consideration tribal concerns or expert analysis. This was likely to allow it’s the transport of oil to continue until they were again sued.
Finally, as this Wednesday, federal
judge James Boasberg determined that the environmental analysis by both
the companies behind the pipeline and the corps was severely lacking,
and the track record of Sunoco when it comes to oil spills is not
promising, and “does not inspire confidence”, he added.
The fresh court-mandated EIS will be
more in-depth than the assessment already completed by the corps – and
could take years to complete. Next, the court will decide if the
pipeline will be shut down while the EIS is being completed and until
the EIS is approved.
“This validates everything the tribe has been saying all along about the risk of oil spills to the people of Standing Rock,” said Jan Hasselman, an EarthJustice attorney.
The Takeaway
The news of this Standing Rock victory
may fall on distracted ears and minds at the moment considering the
current global focus on the Coronavirus pandemic, but this is a big
victory that shows the power of collective action and moving to stand up
to actions of those who do not make the entirety of human
‘thrivability’ a part of their paradigm, but who instead operate from a
space of disconnection and capitalization.
This news comes as I recently released my latest film Regenerate
to everyone for free. The film re-examines our current mainstream
approach to climate change and instead looks at our relationship to
land, life, nature, money and each other as a whole. I propose that it
is here where we will find the solutions we are looking for to truly
allow our environment and each other, to thrive. You can check out the
trailer below, and watch the full film here.
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