Yaqui tribal government representative Mario Luna Romero (left), a leader of the Sonora River indigenous defense in Mexico, spoke in solidarity with the Oceti Sakowin’s Missouri River ancestral lands struggle after visiting the spirit camps near Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Photo courtesy Tupak Huehuecoyotl
Mounting solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s pipeline resistance draws backlash
New ‘PRO DAPL’ website pops up to 'cover the news in North Dakota about the pipeline protests'
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News Today
Health & Environment Editor
nsweekly.com CANNON BALL, N.D. –– As the month of October opened; public awareness grew about Dakota Access Pipeline pollution threats, not only to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Missouri River drinking water supply, but also to many millions of downstream people’s supplies from the Mississippi. A mounting legacy of rallies, ceremonies, civil disobedience actions and plans led to a backlash from uneasy supporters of the private oil company project and to souped-up law-enforcement activity. The $3.7-million pipeline construction project fostered by Energy Transfer Partners, Phillips 66, and Enbridge would carry highly flammable toxic fracked oil nearly 1,200 miles from the Bakken Formation, centered at the Mandan Hidatsa & Arikara Nation, through North and South Dakota, as well as Iowa, to a transfer station in Illinois. “To date, more than 300 tribes and first nations officially stand with Standing Rock by way of tribal resolutions, letters of support, or tribal delegations joining the camp,” the tribe said in a written update, as it awaited an Oct. 5 federal appeals court ruling on its petition for an emergency injunction to halt the construction. “There are entire cities and municipalities such as Santa Barbara, Seattle, and Minneapolis-St. Paul supporting us, and they aren’t the only ones,” the tribe said just prior to the city of Los Angeles joining the list. “There are millions of people the world-over standing in solidarity, as well. Eighty thousand people in Ireland rallied recently to say #NoDAPL. The local, global, national, and tribal communities all support our fight and we’ve got more coming in every day,” the tribe said. DAPL and Bakken Pipeline are other names for the project that has labor confederation AFL-CIO support for the 4,000 temporary jobs it offers. The Service Employees International Union became the most recent of several confederation unions that differ with their umbrella organization’s stance, however. While leading U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have kept mum on the issue, President Barack Obama broke the Administration’s domestic silence on it, during his eighth and last Annual White House Tribal Nations Conference, saying: “I know that many of you have come together across tribes and across the country to support the community at Standing Rock, and together, you’re making your voices heard.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Mounting solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s pipeline resistance draws backlash (Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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