Native Americans lead fight against gas pipeline for environmental justice
The Standing Rock Sioux in the U.S. have been fighting against the construction of a major gas pipeline which would threaten their water supply and violate their sacred sites. They have organized popular direct action against the construction company and the state and inspired people throughout the country and the world.
For months, thousands of Native Americans and others have attempted to stop the construction of a monster gas pipeline. They have filed legal claims and lobbied politicians, but what has been especially impressive has been the attempted blockade of construction. Throughout the world, indigenous peoples have played an important role in fighting pipelines, oil drilling, fracking, and the overall destruction of the environment. Sometimes allied with local white farmers and workers, the indigenous have the advantage of legal rights which their white neighbors (and environmentalists) do not have. They also have special moral claims, based on centuries of oppression and treaty-breaking.
The Dakota Access Pipeline Project (also called the Bakken Pipeline) is a project of the Energy Transfer Partners. It plans to run a 30 inch diameter pipe 1,170 miles from North Dakota to southern Illinois. There it would join existing pipelines to the Gulf and the East Coast. It would cost $3.7 billion and come on line at the end of 2016. The pipeline would cross many sources of water and pass under the Missouri river a half mile upstream from the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers gave the project the go-ahead, with a cursory pretense of “consulting” affected tribes.
The Standing Rock Sioux have claimed that the pipeline violates their right to historically sacred land. They also claim that it threatens their water supply. They call themselves “Water Protectors.” The company argues that it is (mostly) building on private property which it bought, not on the reservation. Whatever the legalities of the case, it is well known how American Indian land became “private property.” The company also argues that pipes are safer for transporting gas than are railroads or trucks. This is irrelevant. No method of transport is perfect or can be without accidents. Sooner or later there will be leaks, minor or major, which must impact the water supply. (This is one reason there needs to be national and local programs for a transition to noncarbon, renewable, energy.)
Besides the Standing Rock Sioux, the project has been opposed locally by the Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition, which is made up of over 30 landowner and environmental associations. Meanwhile thousands of Native Americans from over 200 tribes have come to the blockade camps to support the Standing Rock Sioux. Solidarity demonstrations have been held all across the country, even though the media has tended to bury the dramatic events. There has been a support delegation from the Black Lives Matter movement.
Construction continues. So far the Sioux have lost all their legal challenges. The company’s agents and the police have attacked peaceful demonstrators with dogs and pepper spray--exposing the lie that the state is "neutral" between the people and the capitalists. On September 3rd, the police attacked the camp, spraying over 30 people with pepper spray; at least 6 people were bitten by dogs. This was the anniversary of the 1963 Whitestone massacre, when soldiers killed over 300 Sioux—which puts things in context. So far over 400 people have been arrested. They have tried to arrest journalists and photographers also.
Mekasi Horinek, a militant from the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma says that he asked police officers: “Don’t you drink water too? Don’t your children drink water? We’re here to protect the water. This isn’t just a Native issue. We’re here protecting the water; not only for our families and our children, but for your families and your children. For every ranch and every farm along the Missouri River.” He adds, “No matter what they do to us, they’re not going to strip our dignity, our honor. These are things we hold in our DNA , and we’ll never lose.” (NY Times 11/2/16; p. A10)