Environment | National | Politics

Rosebud Sioux Tribe's letter to Sen. Thune on Keystone XL

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

"In response to Sen. John Thune’s (R-S.D.) recent press release characterizing President Barack Obama’s decision to deny the controversial Keystone XL a permit as pandering to anti-pipeline extremists, Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux issued the following statement to Thune:

"Dear Hon. Senator John Thune,

“I write this letter on behalf of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and in response to your press release of January 18, 2012, entitled, ‘President Rejects Keystone Pipeline, Chooses Re-Election over American Jobs.’

“Your press release states, ‘In rejecting the job-creating Keystone XL Pipeline, President Obama today chose to try and save his own job by pandering to his anti-pipeline environmental extremist voting bloc, over creating jobs for thousands of Americans.’

“The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has opposed both the TransCanada Pipeline and the TransCanada XL Pipeline based upon Tribal Treaty Rights guaranteed by the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, protection of grave sites and sacred sites, (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. Section 3001 et. sex., Pub. L. 101-601), protection of cultural, religious and historical sites, (National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, 16 U.S.C. Section 470 et. seq., Pub. L. 89-665), protection of the Oglala Aquifer from contamination of potential catatstrophic contamination, and protection of our lands and waters on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe aboriginal treaty lands from desecration from tar sands sludge spills.""

Get the Story:
Bordeaux to Thune: Clarify Keystone comments and apologize (The Sicangu Eyapaha 1/23)