[env-trinity] Photo Essay: Over 500 people in Sacramento stand in solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux

[Dan Bacher]

For my photo essay, go to this link:

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/11/18/18793816.php



Over 500 people in Sacramento stand in solidarity with Standing Rock  
Sioux

by Dan Bacher

Over 500 Sacramento area residents, including Native Americans, social  
justice advocates and environmentalists, joined tens of thousands of  
others throughout the world on November 15 to demand that the Obama  
administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halt the controversial  
Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

They lined both sides of the street in front of the U.S. Army Corps of  
Engineers office on J Street, proclaiming their solidarity with the  
struggle of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota and their allies  
to stop the pipeline that carries fracked crude Bakken oil. Many  
drivers passing by on the busy street honked their horns in support of  
the protesters.

The protest took place the day after the Corps announced it is  
delaying an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline project until it  
conducts further environmental review and discussion with the Standing  
Rock Sioux Tribe. The Corps said “construction on or under Corps land  
bordering Lake Oahe cannot occur because the Army has not made a final  
decision on whether to grant an easement.”

The Standing Rock Sioux and the water protectors opposing the pipeline  
are worried that the final Corps decision won’t be made until next  
year after Donald Trump is inaugurated. Trump’s transition team has  
vowed to expand offshore and offshore oil production throughout the  
nation.

Even more worrisome, Trump has invested between $500,000 and $1  
million in Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the  
pipeline, according to financial disclosure forms, Wes Enzinna of  
Mother Jones reported. Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren also  
donated more than $100,000 to help elect Trump.

“Trump also owns stock worth between $500,000 and $1 million in  
Phillips 66, which will own a 25 percent share of the finished  
pipeline. One of Trump's key energy advisers is North Dakota Rep.  
Kevin Cramer, who has encouraged him to dismantle key aspects of the  
Clean Water Act, which gives the Army Corps and the Environmental  
Protection Agency authority to regulate the nation's waterways and  
wetlands,” Ezinna wrote.

Tuesday’s protest was one of the largest regarding an indigenous  
struggle ever held in the Capital City. “We had an incredible turnout  
at our event,” said Chris Brown, an organizer from the Sacramento  
Climate Coalition. “A special shout out goes to the Nevada County  
protectors of water, who came out in droves.”

Brown noted that the Corps approved the construction pipeline without  
proper consultation or adequate environmental studies.

“The Standing Rock Sioux are resisting the DAPL, which threatens their  
water, ancestral burial sites, and Native sovereignty,” according to  
Brown. “They have been met with militarized police using automatic  
rifles, sound cannons, tear gas and mace, flash-bang grenades, bean  
bag rounds, and rubber bullets. The courage of the Water Protectors  
has inspired people all over the world.”

Cosponsors of the local action included Sacramento Area Friends and  
Relatives of the Lakota Nation, Sacramento Climate Coalition, 350  
Sacramento, Davis MoveOn, Davis Stands with Standing Rock, Raging  
Grannies of Sacramento, Sacramento Stands with Standing Rock, Alianza,  
and Jewish Voice for Peace.

"The state of North Dakota has deployed the National Guard, State and  
Local Police and police from several other states as well as the FBI  
to protect Energy Transfer Partners, a privately owned pipeline  
construction corporation,” said Francisco Dominguez (Tarahumara) of  
Sacramento Area Friends and Relatives of the Lakota Nation. “The last  
time I checked we were still a Democracy."

Mariana Rivera from the Zapatista Coalition noted the links between  
the Sioux Tribe’s struggle in North Dakota and struggles of indigenous  
peoples and their allies to stop the raising of Shasta Dam, the  
environmentally destructive Delta Tunnels of Governor Jerry Brown and  
fracking in California.

“Native people are taking the lead on something that concerns us all,  
protecting our water and land. All of us to need to take a stand with  
Standing Rock now,” said Rivera.

“Extracting fossils fuels jeopardizes water systems and native rights  
— and that’s why we’re here in solidarity with them,” explained Alicia  
Esquivido, a local Greenpeace activist, who was there with fellow  
activist Trent Pearson.

Rick Guerrero, an SEIU organizer and former president of the  
Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) Board said,  “I'm here to  
stand with our brothers and sisters in North Dakota. Last week’s  
election crystallized how our resistance needs to be immediate and  
sustainable. This destruction needs to be be stopped not only for  
native people, but for the earth and all workers.”

Before the end of the protest, Carol Standing Elk, Lakota Sioux, met  
with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representative, Tyler Stalker, and  
several men from the agency inside the office.

"She told us, 'We don’t have anything to do with DAPL; you are are  
wasting your time,'" said Standing Elk.

“They kept assuring us that their Sacramento office couldn’t do  
anything. However, I pointed out that they do have the same director  
in charge of the Corps — and they should know rules and regulations  
that apply to Tribes,” she said.

Energy Transfer Partners is building the 1,200-mile pipeline to carry  
fracked crude oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota. The  
pipeline would run under the Missouri, the nation’s longest river,  
where a spill would endanger the drinking water for 18 million people.

In a classic case of environmental racism, early plans proposed  
routing the pipeline close to the city of Bismark, a largely white  
community. However, when the people there objected because of the  
danger to their water supply, the pipeline was rerouted near the  
Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

DAPL also imperils the world’s climate, with 2015 and 2016 being the  
warmest years in recorded history. A recent study from Oil Change  
International showed that fossil fuel projects already in production  
will carry us beyond the 2° rise commonly considered the maximum  
allowable to avoid the most serious effects of climate change. “This  
means we must stop all new fossil fuel infrastructure (e.g., DAPL),  
and transition to a fossil free economy,” said Brown.

On Monday, the Army Corps issued a statement calling for more study  
and discussion with the Tribe before it allows the pipeline to cross  
under Lake Oahe at the proposed location:

"Washington, D.C. – Today, the Army informed the Standing Rock Sioux  
Tribe, Energy Transfer Partners, and Dakota Access, LLC, that it has  
completed the review that it launched on September 9, 2016.  The Army  
has determined that additional discussion and analysis are warranted  
in light of the history of the Great Sioux Nation’s dispossessions of  
lands, the importance of Lake Oahe to the Tribe, our government-to- 
government relationship, and the statute governing easements through  
government property.

The Army invites the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to engage in discussion  
regarding potential conditions on an easement for the pipeline  
crossing that would reduce the risk of a spill or rupture, hasten  
detection and response to any possible spill, or otherwise enhance the  
protection of Lake Oahe and the Tribe’s water supplies.  The Army  
invites discussion of the risk of a spill in light of such conditions,  
and whether to grant an easement for the pipeline to cross Lake Oahe  
at the proposed location.  The Army continues to welcome any input  
that the Tribe believes is relevant to the proposed pipeline crossing  
or the granting of an easement.

While these discussions are ongoing, construction on or under Corps  
land bordering Lake Oahe cannot occur because the Army has not made a  
final decision on whether to grant an easement.  The Army will work  
with the Tribe on a timeline that allows for robust discussion and  
analysis to be completed expeditiously.

We fully support the rights of all Americans to assemble and speak  
freely, and urge everyone involved in protest or pipeline activities  
to adhere to the principles of nonviolence."

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe then published the following news  
release in response to the Corps’ statement:

CANNON BALL, N.D. – The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers today announced  
they are delaying an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline project  
until it conducts further environmental review with the Standing Rock  
Sioux Tribe. The Corp noted that “construction on or under Corps land  
bordering Lake Oahe cannot occur because the Army has not made a final  
decision on whether to grant an easement.”

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chair Dave Archambault II said while the  
decision was not 100 percent what the Tribe had hoped for he said it  
is clear President Obama is listening. “We are encouraged and know  
that the peaceful prayer and demonstration at Standing Rock have  
powerfully brought to light the unjust narrative suffered by tribal  
nations and Native Americans across the country,” Archambault said.

“Together we can inspire people across America and the globe to honor  
each other and the Earth we hold sacred,” Archambault said. “Millions  
of people have literally and spiritually stood with us at Standing  
Rock. And for this, you have our deepest thanks and gratitude. The  
harmful and dehumanizing tactics by the state of North Dakota and  
corporate bullies did not go unnoticed because of you. Not all of our  
prayers were answered, but this time, they were heard.”

The 1,100-mile pipeline was rerouted towards tribal nations after  
citizens of North Dakota rightfully rejected it to protect their  
communities and water. While the pipeline is nearly complete, it  
required the final easement to drill under the Missouri River (at Lake  
Oahe) just a half a mile upstream of the tribe’s reservation boundary.  
The water supply of the Tribe and 17 million Americans downstream are  
at risk for contamination by crude oil leaks and spills. A single  
spill would be culturally and economically catastrophic for the Tribe.  
The Missouri River is the longest river in North America and crosses  
several states south of the project.

“We call on all water protectors, as we have from the beginning, to  
join our voices in prayer and to share our opposition to this pipeline  
peacefully. The whole world is watching and where they see prayerful,  
peaceful resistance, they join us,” Archambault said.

Learn more about the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at  
standwithstandingrock.net. For incremental updates please follow our  
Facebook page at Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

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