Activists in Vermillion joined a Feb. 3 vigil to tell President Obama the proposed tar-sands crude-oil pipeline is not in the national interest. Courtesy/Alice Alexandrescu, Rainforest Action Network
Native Americans and allies continue fight against XL Pipeline
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News
Health & Environment Editor MANDERSON — With public comments due by March 7 on the most recent version of the environmental impact statement for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL tar-sands crude-oil pipeline proposal, Native Americans and allies continued to lambast the idea as a risky proposition. “We do not want KXL. We do not want tar sands in our lands. The tar sands must stay in the ground,” Manderson-based Owe Aku (“Bring Back the Way”) reiterated in a Feb. 6 statement. “The extraction and its aftermath is killing humans and all of life up there, and wasting precious water,” the non-profit organization based on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation said in a written statement referring to the source of the tar-sands, which is the boreal forest of the Athabasca Chipewyan territory of the U.S.-Canadian province of Alberta. The Canadian corporate proponent is asking for a Presidential Permit to cross the U.S. border with a 1,179-mile pipeline from Alberta through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Oglala Sioux Tribal Vice President Tom Poor Bear set Feb. 13-14 for the second tribally supported gathering in Rapid City to rally against the pipeline. Opponents estimated that more than 10,000 people took part in more than 280 simultaneous vigils around the world on Feb. 3 to protest the proposal after the U.S. State Department staff released the statement that “the analyses of potential impacts associated with construction and normal operation of the proposed project suggest that significant impacts to most resources are not expected” assuming the company fully complies with all legal stipulations. Among vigils organized in Lakota territory was one at Vermillion, one at Ft. Randall Casino, in the area of influence of the Ihanktonwan Oyate and one at Sinte Gleska University, in the area of influence of the Sicangu Oyate. They were co-sponsored by the university, Protect the Sacred, Oyate Wahacanka Woecun, Wici Agli, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Historic Preservation Office. “We must stop this KXL from entering the territory our ancestors loved, lived on for thousands of generations, and gave their greatest gift of all to defend, their lives,” Owe Aku said. Our creation stories teach us that this is our home on Unci Maka. Our homeland is part of our identity; we have our inherent birth right as Lakota Oyate. Our inherent birth right is a spiritual and human right, and we have treaty rights,” it said. New information contained in the impact statement is expected to inform Secretary of State John Kerry’s recommendation to President Barrack Obama regarding whether to grant a Presidential Permit process on the basis of its implications for the national interest. TransCanada says that “Keystone XL Pipeline will be the safest and most advanced pipeline operation in North America. It will not only bring essential infrastructure to North American oil producers, but it will also provide jobs, long-term energy independence and an economic boost to Americans.” Its supporters also stepped up their pressure on the White House in the wake of the environmental statement. “The U.S. State Department has once again found that the Keystone XL Pipeline would have a negligible effect on the environment. After more than five years of environmental review, it is time to approve this key piece of American energy infrastructure,” said the Energy Citizens group, whose motto is “Because energy is our way of life.” The organization encouraged people to send letters stating, “Now that the environmental concerns are satisfied, we must consider the other factors involved with making this decision. These include things like our relationship with the source of the imported oil and the stability of that country in addition to energy security and economic contributions. “The State Department found that Keystone XL would support 42,000 jobs and $2 billion in wages for American workers over two years. This pipeline will be state of the art and have a degree of safety over any other,” it stated. However, Northern Plains ranchers whose property is targeted for the proposed tar-sands pipeline said the environmental study released Jan. 31 makes a weak case that the project is in the national interest and does not consider a safety plan. “None of the tar-sands oil that the KXL transports is guaranteed to stay in the United States,” said Dakota Rural Action chairperson and rancher Paul Seamans. “Rather, it will go on the world market once it reaches the gulf. This seriously weakens the argument that the KXL will lessen our reliance on foreign oil and that the pipeline is in the interests of our national security.” If the project goes through, it would connect with pipe that TransCanada Corp.’s contractors have already laid from Nebraska all the way to the Gulf of Mexico’s tax-free export zone, despite dozens of organizations’ direct action to stop it. The lack of a safety plan for public review in the study concerns Darrell Garoutte, a Northern Plains Resource Council member and rancher. “The project still does not have an Emergency Response Plan, despite the historical warnings of the Kalamazoo and Yellowstone rivers [pipeline spill] disasters and others,” he said. “It crosses the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers and Ogallala Aquifer, which provide drinking and irrigation water to a large percentage of our nation’s population,” he noted. Cinema giant Robert Redford got up on the celebrity bandwagon to weigh in with the opposition, saying, “Keystone XL would pipe some of the world’s dirtiest oil through the American breadbasket to be refined on the gulf and shipped overseas. That puts our farmers and ranchers at needless risk while not serving our energy or economic interests. I wouldn’t call that national interest.” His statement followed on the heels of a benefit concert against tar-sands extraction in Alberta by music icon Neil Young at which time the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) announced new litigation against the Canadian government and Shell Canada over the Jackpine Mine Expansion project approval. Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club and Oil Change International have filed a request to the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act to “unearth insider communications” of the department with the Canadian government and oil industry in the weeks leading up to the release of the final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. “The oil industry and the Harper government’s inside knowledge of the final report raises yet another red flag on the integrity of the State Department’s environmental review process,” said Doug Hayes, Sierra Club staff attorney. The department’s inspector general is currently investigating mismanagement, bias and conflict of interest, he noted, saying, “Now we’ll add this to the list.” For its part, The Center for Biological Diversity, claiming the environmental statement inadequately addresses wildlife species impacts, is offering posters and signs. “We’re asking people around the country to make their voices heard. Put a sign in your yard. Protest at your local park or storefront. Paste a flyer to the windshield of your car. Send factsheets to your friends. Organize a gathering or other event to teach people about Keystone and spread the word,” is says on its Internet website. The public can submit comments on the “national interest” determination directly to the State Department online at www.regulations.gov or mail them to: U.S. Department of State; Bureau of Energy Resources, Room 4843; Attn: Keystone XL Public Comments; 2201 C Street, NW; Washington, DC 20520 The document is available at: keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/finalseis/index.htm (Contact Talli Nauman, NSN Health and Environment editor at talli.nauman@gmail.com)
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