Crowd outside Federal Judge Lawrence L. Piersol’s courtroom in Rapid City rallied peacefully in June 2019 at his hearing to determine if South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s 2019 legislation violates the First Amendment guarantees of oil pipeline resisters. Photo courtesy Andy Johnson

Native rights advocates quash pipeline Riot Boosting Act

RAPID CITY – Native and other grassroots pipeline fighters celebrated a court settlement October 24, barring enforcement of the clauses in Gov. Kristi Noem’s 2019 Riot Boosting Act that violate constitutionally protected freedom of speech, assembly and movement.

Noem pushed through the eleventh-hour law in the most recent legislative session expressly to ward off out-of-state support for pipeline resistance. She said her motive was to save the state money as she moved to defend the proposed TransCanada Corp. Keystone XL Pipeline construction from widespread tribal and other local opposition.

“South Dakota knew these laws couldn’t stand up to our legal challenge so rather than face embarrassment they decided to capitulate,” said Dallas Goldtooth, organizer for the plaintiff Indigenous Environmental Network.

“We will celebrate this win but remain vigilant against further government attempts to outlaw our right to peacefully assemble,” said Goldtooth, a Lakota/Diné and individual plaintiff, who testified that he is peacefully resisting the construction.

“We will fight on for the protection of the Oceti Sakowin people and the sacredness of Mother Earth with no hesitations,” he said in a written statement.

Another individual plaintiff who is fighting peacefully, Nick Tilsen, also spoke for his plaintiff organization NDN Collective when he said, “The Boosting Act was an insult to the Constitution and an attempt to muzzle the voices of the people and our movement to defend Mother Earth.”

The settlement upholds the temporary injunction against the Riot Boosting Act that Western South Dakota U.S. District Judge Lawrence L. Piersol granted Sept. 18 to keep the law from remaining in force as its constitutionality was in doubt.

The settlement stipulates that it will hold until the unconstitutional clauses “are substantially revised by legislative action.” It also stipulates that the state must pay plaintiffs’ attorney fees.

Tribes and organizations have stalled the project with other federal lawsuits, based on alleged violations of environmental, constitutional and treaty protections. “Onward, we will continue to fight for air, land, water and our rights,” Tilsen said in the statement.

Plaintiffs in the other cases are the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Ft. Belknap Indian Community, Indigenous Environmental Network, North Coast Rivers Alliance, Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club.

Embroiled in the court proceedings, pipeline promoter TC Energy Corp., formerly TransCanada Corp., said it will not undertake construction on the final stretch of the Canada-to-Texas tar-sands crude-oil infrastructure through the unceded 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty territory of Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana, before spring of 2020.

John Harter, board chair of the statewide non-profit Dakota Rural Action, lead plaintiff in the case against the Riot Boosting Act, professed, “We are proud to have stood alongside our native allies to fight for the rights of all South Dakotans.

“Gov. Noem and Attorney Gen. (Jason) Ravnsborg settled this case because they are clearly in the wrong – something they and the Legislature were warned of as they rushed to pass this unconstitutional law,” Harter said.

“In fact, the whole process of pushing pipelines through this state – from the use of eminent domain to benefit a foreign corporation, to cracking down on citizens protecting the land and water – violates our Constitution and leaves taxpayers, once again, to foot the bill,” Harter said.

NATIVE SUN NEWS TODAY

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Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman(at)gmail.com

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