Environment | Opinion | Politics

Larry Emery: President Barack Obama must halt Dakota Access Pipeline

Thursday, September 1, 2016

A scene from the #NoDAPL resistance. Photo by Paul Anderson / Our Shared Responsibility: A Totem Pole Journey

The following is the text of an August 31, 2016, letter from Rev. Larry S. Emery, the pastor of the Metlakatla Presbyterian Church in Alaska, to President Barack Obama and Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works). The Presbyterian Church is supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in its fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Dear President Obama and Assistant Secretary

I am writing as the pastor of the Metlakatla Presbyterian Church on the Annette Island Indian Reserve in Alaska. We are the oldest and currently the only Native Reservation in the state. The Tsimshian people of Metlakatla immigrated here from British Columbia in 1887 and we were given this island by the American government as their new home. The founding pastor of our church, Edward Marsden was the first Native American from Alaska to become a United States citizen and the first Native American from Alaska to become an ordained pastor. It is in that context that I write. We appreciate all the American government has done for our people and we are committed to the American government and the American way of life.

Many native peoples in Alaska, including members of the Metlakatla Indian are concerned over the situation in North Dakota and the precedent it sets for the future of native lands across this country. The Dakota Access Pipeline is another chapter in the long history of the federal government granting the construction of potentially hazardous projects near or through tribal lands, waters, and cultural places without including the tribe in the decision-making process. The Army Corps of Engineers approved several sections of the pipeline without fully satisfying the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and its federal trust responsibility to the Tribe, forcing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe into a legal battle.

I believe that the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline as currently planned is in a violation of the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty with the United States. Native tribes are the only ethnic group mentioned in the United States Constitution and it specifically provides for the government making treaties with these Native tribes. The United States has a legally-binding obligation to obtain the Native People’s consent before activities are carried out that affect treaty lands. Building of the pipeline also violates Article 32 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which affirms the obligation of States to obtain Indigenous Peoples’ free prior and informed consent before development projects affecting their lands, territories or other resources are carried out.

I respectfully request that the Administration halt the Dakota Access Pipeline’s easement to drill under Lake Oahe until the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s waters and sacred places are protected.

This is an issue which is a concern to not only myself, but to the Presbyterian Church USA, who supports the self-determination of Native Americans and compliance of the United States government with the constitution and international law. A copy of a recent letter from the Presbyterian Church USA is provided below.

Sincerely,

Rev. Larry S. Emery, Pastor
Metlakatla Presbyterian Church