Sacramento area activists stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Photo by Dan Bacher.
Sacramento Area Residents Hold Protest Against Dakota Access Pipeline Outside Citibank
by Dan Bacher
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On Saturday, private security guards working for DAPL unleashed attack dogs on American Indian water protectors, drawing outrage from people throughout the country and world: www.dailykos.com…
The protesters targeted Citibank because it is one of the financial institutions whose loans have funded the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Phil Kim, the event organizer, said, "We are here today to show solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Citibank is one of the primary funders of the DAPL and we are here to tell them to not fund this pipeline."
"I'm here to protest the banks that are paying for the pipeline that is bringing the crude oil down the Missouri River to Texas," said Carol Standing Elk, Lakota Sioux. "My relatives have gotten as far as they have because of prayer. They have a prayerful camp and a peaceful camp. We want the construction of the pipeline to stop."
"We hope to open the minds of everybody, regardless whether they're yellow, white, red, brown, black or green. They all drink water and they all breathe air. The Standing Rock Sioux are standing up against the pipeline in a good way," said Standing Elk.
After assemblying on the sidewalk outside the bank, the group walked into the bank, where Kim handed the bank manager a letter urging the bank to stop funding the pipeline. Standing Elk also briefly spoke about the urgency of stopping of the pipeline, in spite of threats by the clearly agitated bank manager that he would call the police and have the protesters arrested if they did not leave the bank immediately.
The group then returned to the sidewalk where they held an array of signs with slogans including "Dakota Access Pipeline Supports Dirty Oil & Climate Change," "Honor the Treaties, Not Big Money, " Keep It In The Earth," "I Support Standing Rock, No DAPL, Peaceful, Prayerful Camp," "Water Is Life," "Oil Or Water?," and "Water Is Sacred , No DAPL, Stop Funding It!"
"I'm happy people showed up today in support of the Standing Rock Sioux. It's good to be here with like-minded people," said Fiona Pulscamp, Navajo.
As detailed in a report just released by Food & Water Watch, the Standing Rock Sioux are not just up against the oil and gas industry and the federal government in their battle against the environmentally destructive pipeline that threatens the Tribe's sacred sites.
"They are up against many of the most powerful financial and corporate interests on Wall Street, the profit-driven institutions that are bankrolling this pipeline plan and so many others like it throughout the country," according to Jo Miles and Hugh MacMillan.
Seventeen financial institutions, including Citibank, Wells Fargo, and BNP Paribas,l have loaned Dakota Access LLC $2.5 billion to construct the pipeline. Miles and MacMillan also said banks have "committed substantial resources" to the Energy Transfer Family of companies so it can build out more oil and gas infrastructure:
- Energy Transfer Partners has a revolving credit line of $3.75 billion toward expanding its oil and gas infrastructure holdings, with commitments from just 26 banks.
- Sunoco Logistics has a credit line with $2.5 billion in commitments from just 24 banks.
- Energy Transfer Equity has a credit line with another $1.5 billion in commitments from most of the same big international banks. To read the full article, go to: www.foodandwaterwatch.org/
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There are also 2 solidarity events in Sacramento scheduled on Friday: 11 AM at the Sacramento County Courthouse, 720 9th St. 12 PM at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office, 1325 J St. www.facebook.com/…
Court denies Tribe's TRO; decision on case expected by Sept. 9
On Sunday, September 4, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to "prevent further destruction of the Tribe's sacred sites" by Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The U.S. District judge denied the TRO as requested by the Tribe.
"Today's denial of a temporary restraining order against Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) west of Lake Oahe puts my people's sacred places at further risk of ruin and desecration," said David Archambault II, Chairman of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. "We are disappointed that the U.S. District Court's decision does not prevent DAPL from destroying our sacred sites as we await a ruling on our original motion to stop construction of the pipeline."
Thousands of people from more than 200 Native Tribes have joined the Standing Rock Sioux's efforts to protect their lands, waters and sacred sites from harm during construction of the 1,200-mile pipeline. The Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Winnemem Wintu and other Tribes from California and the Klamath Tribes of Oregon have passed resolutions in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux while tribal members have traveled to the camp to join the defenders.
On the same day, "Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners brazenly used bulldozers to destroy our burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts," Chairman Archambault said in a press release. "They did this on a holiday weekend, one day after we filed court papers identifying these sacred sites. The desecration of these ancient places has already caused the Standing Rock Sioux irreparable harm. We're asking the court to halt this path of destruction."
After the initial destruction Saturday, Dakota Access Pipeline returned to the area and dug up additional grounds in the pre-dawn hours Sunday, Archambault said.
The motion sought to prevent additional construction work on an area two miles west of North Dakota Highway 1806, and within 20 miles of Lake Oahe until a judge rules on the Tribe's previous motion to stop construction, according to Archambault. That motion is based on the Standing Rock Sioux's assertion that it was not properly consulted before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fast-tracked approval of the pipeline project.
A decision on the case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is expected by September 9. If built, the 1,200-mile pipeline would carry a half-million barrels of crude oil across the Tribe's treaty lands each day, according to the Tribe.
In a message on Tuesday, September 6, Chairman Archambault said, "Today, as we remain peaceful and prayerful, I feel we are turning the corner! As the injustices implemented on our indigenous rights and lands start to surface, eventually, this great nation will do the right thing and stop the pipeline from crossing our water
In other DAPL news, TeleSUR revealed that the shadowy security company G4S us is one of several private security companies "protecting" the Dakota Access Pipeline. The company is now under fire for providing services to Israeli prisons and settlements, expanding across the Middle East including Afghanistan and Iraq and operating juvenile detention centers and handling deportations from the U.S. For more information, go to: www.mintpressnews.com/...
1 comment:
Too bad I didn't know about the protest, I would have gone. I Stand with my brothers and sisters at Standing Rock.
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