During prayer ceremonies on the banks of the Missouri River Aug. 22, members of Canada’s Lummi Nation visited with a totem pole to help launch a No KXL Dakota coalition campaign aimed at preventing a South Dakota construction permit on TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar-sands crude pipeline. Photo from Kwel Hoy': A Totem Pole Journey / Facebook
Lummi Nation brings totem pole to Yankton to protest Keystone XL Pipeline
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News
Health & Environment Editor PICKSTOWN – Members of the Lummi Nation opposing the Northern Gateway Pipeline in Canada brought a totem pole to Ihanktonwan (Yankton) territory in South Dakota on Aug. 22, to launch an alliance of land-based organizations to oppose construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline. Organizers announced the ceremony and prayer event near Ft. Randall Dam on the Missouri River as a kick-off of No KXL Dakota, “yet another hurdle” in Canadian corporations’ efforts to transport Alberta tar-sands crude to overseas markets. No KXL is a coalition of pre-existing pipeline fighters in South Dakota that “have come together to extend their shared vision of protecting the land, the water and the peoples of the area,” they said in a written release Aug. 20. Involved in the alliance are: Protect the Sacred Movement of the Ihanktonwan/Yankton; The Bridger Spiritual Camp, Pte Ospaye; The Lower Brule Spiritual Camp, Wiconi Un Tipi; the Rosebud Spiritual Camp, Oyate Wahacanka Woecun and the statewide non-profit Dakota Rural Action and the international non-profit Indigenous Environmental Network. In order to finish the pipeline, TransCanada must certify its lapsed South Dakota permit to build within state borders, proving it meets the original permit conditions. The coalition is preparing to fight the permit certification at the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, and expects the company to file for certification this year, it said. Protect the Sacred representative Faith Spotted Eagle said the opening event, called Oceti Rising, “is reaffirming our sovereignty as nations and strengthening our protection of Mother Earth. Water is life, Mni Wiconi. Oceti means fire and could also represent unity between non-native and natives in protecting their home fires.” To raise awareness about the Keystone XL Pipeline, the coalition is visiting communities around the state with a “Traveling Tipi,” painted by native artist Mark Powers. “This is about a foreign, for profit pipeline corporation condemning landowners’ property in order to run a tar-sands pipeline across one of the most important aquifers in the country so they can get their crude to the export docks in the Gulf and ship the crude to China,” said Paul Seamans, a landowner crossed by the Keystone XL Pipeline route, who chairs of Dakota Rural Action. The 27-year-old Dakota Rural Action began organizing farmers and ranchers in 2008 to ensure a safer pipeline and a fairer easement with TransCanada, which threatens the Ogallala Aquifer, Seamans said. “During the six years since, DRA has formed alliances with many different groups that are in opposition to the KXL,” he said. “Having learned of the harm to our environment caused by the mining and transporting of tar-sands oil, we oppose the pipeline and will work to ensure the South Dakota permit is not certified,” he noted in announcing the campaign kickoff. Campaign stops are scheduled at Eagle Butte, Aug. 30 – Sept. 1; Sioux Falls, Sept. 20; and Rapid City, Oct. 10 – 12. (Contact Talli Nauman NSN Health and Environment Editor at talli.nauman@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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