S moke S ignals
SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
9
Grand Ronde supports Standing Rock protest
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
Tribal Council voted at its
Wednesday, Aug. 31, meeting to
join other Tribes in support of the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North
Dakota as it protests construction
of an oil pipeline project adjacent to
its Reservation boundary.
Tribal Council approved a resolu-
tion of support, as well as a $2,500
donation.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers has given its approval for
the Dakota Access pipeline to run
within a half-mile of the Standing
Rock Reservation. Tribal Council is
concerned by the lack of meaningful
consultation between federal agen-
cies and the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe regarding the Dakota Access
Pipeline,” states the Grand Ronde
resolution. “Tribal Council stands
with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
and its efforts to preserve and pro-
tect its reservation, its waterways
and its natural resources.”
Standing Rock Sioux Executive
Secretary Johnelle Leingang said
that her Tribal Council is using
monetary donations from Tribes
across the nation for practical
things like hand washing units and
for important things like legal fees.
In addition, several Grand Ronde
Tribal members, including Ann
Lewis, Jackie Many Hides, Molly
Leno and Rena Anderson, among
others, traveled to North Dakota to
join in the protest. Many Hides took
a Grand Ronde Tribal flag with her
to demonstrate the Tribe’s support.
The Grand Ronde Tribe urged
the Army Corps of Engineers to
re-examine its consultation process
to ensure that treaty rights and
natural resources are protected
and that the Standing Rock Sioux
are not “deprived of their Tribal
sovereignty.”
State of emergency
On Friday, Aug. 26, the Stand-
ing Rock Sioux Tribal Council
declared a state of emergency due
to the threat and potential harmful
effects that could occur from the
construction of the pipeline project
through its ancestral land.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is
a 1,172-mile pipeline designed to
connect the Bakken and Three
Forks oil production areas of North
Dakota to Patoka, Ill., by way of
South Dakota and Iowa.
The proposed pipeline would be
30 inches in diameter and carry
up to 470,000 barrels of oil daily
with the capacity to increase to
570,000 barrels daily if needed. The
pipeline project is being promoted
as a way to reduce rail and truck
transportation.
Standing Rock Tribal officials
have publicly stated that they are
not willing to gamble on the poten-
tial of a pipeline break that could
be devastating to Tribal natural
resources, especially water.
Tribal Chairman Dave Archam-
bault II said the Tribe declared the
state of emergency to address the
serious nature of the situation.
“The Tribe will continue to pro-
tect our waters, sacred places and
most importantly our children,”
Contributed photo
Tribal member Molly Leno stands before the Grand Ronde Tribal flag that
flies at the site of Standing Rock Sioux protests against a proposed pipeline
being constructed next to the Tribe’s reservation. The flag was transported to
North Dakota by Tribal Elder Jackie Many Hides.
said Archambault in a press state-
ment.
The National Congress of Ameri-
can Indians also issued statements
urging Tribes to join the Standing
Rock Sioux in its opposition to the
pipeline project and asked Tribal
Councils across the nation to send
resolutions and letters of support.
People also were urged to donate
funds or goods to the Tribe to sup-
port its efforts.
U.S. District Court Judge James
Boasberg said that the Dakota
Access Pipeline has yet to secure
permission from the federal gov-
ernment to have the project cross
Lake Oahe in North Dakota. Part
of Lake Oahe’s shoreline makes the
border of the Standing Rock Sioux
Reservation. The project cannot
move forward without approval of
the permit.
When the project continued and
construction of the pipeline came
within a half-mile of the Tribe’s
reservation boundary, the Tribal
Council asked the court for a pre-
liminary injunction to stop con-
struction.
Dakota Access then secured
a temporary restraining order
against Archambault and the Tribe
that prevents them from interfer-
ing in construction of the pipeline.
In April, the Tribe established the
“Camp of the Sacred Stones” near
the pipeline’s proposed crossing and
have since hosted as many as 2,000
people from as many as 90 Tribal
nations across the United States. In
recent weeks, protests have become
more violent with footage showing
up on social media sites of security
guards allowing guard dogs to at-
tack Native protestors.
Administration steps in
On Friday, Sept. 9, Boasberg
declined to issue an order that
would have shut down all pipeline
construction, but President Barack
Obama’s administration stepped in.
During a Town Hall meeting at
Souphanouvong University in Laos,
Obama was asked what he could do
to protect ancestral lands and clean
water in reference to the issue at
Standing Rock.
“I can tell you that we have ac-
tually restored more rights among
Native Americans to their ances-
tral lands, sacred sites, waters,
hunting grounds. … We have done
a lot more work on that over the
last eight years than we had in the
previous 20 or 30 years and that is
something I hope will continue as
we go forward,” said Obama.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
had been challenging the Army
Corps of Engineers’ granting of
permits to Energy Transfer Part-
ners of Dallas, Texas, to allow for
as many as 200 water crossings in
the construction of the $3.8 billion
Dakota Access pipeline project.
Boasberg denied the Tribe’s re-
quest for a temporary injunction to
halt the pipeline’s construction and
ordered both sides of the conflict to
appear at a status conference on
Friday, Sept. 16.
Within an hour of Boasberg’s
ruling, the Department of Justice,
the Army and the Department of
the Interior announced that pipe-
line construction would stop while
options could be discussed further
with all parties involved.
The agencies issued a press state-
ment saying all construction within
20 miles of the planned Lake Oahe
crossing would cease.
“We appreciate the District
Court’s opinion on the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers’ compliance
with the National Historic Preser-
vation Act,” said a joint statement
issued by the three federal agen-
cies. “However, important issues
raised by the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe and other Tribal nations and
their members regarding the Dako-
ta Access pipeline specifically, and
pipeline-related decision-making
generally, remain.
“Therefore … the Army will not
authorize constructing the Dako-
ta Access pipeline on Corps’ land
bordering or under Lake Oahe
until it can determine whether it
will need to reconsider any of its
previous decisions regarding the
Lake Oahe site under the National
Environmental Policy Act or other
federal laws.
“Therefore, construction of the
pipeline on Army Corps land bor-
dering or under Lake Oahe will not
go forward at this time. The Army
will move expeditiously to make
this determination, as everyone
involved – including the pipeline
company and its workers – deserves
a clear and timely resolution. In
the interim, we request that the
pipeline company voluntarily pause
all construction activity within 20
miles east or west of Lake Oahe.”
News program “Democracy Now”
tweeted an interview from the
nearby Red Warrior Camp with
Native American activist Winona
LaDuke in which she said it is time
for a national change in how the
country regards the business of oil
and that is why she traveled to the
protest site.
LaDuke, who is the executive
director of Honor the Earth and
lives on the White Earth Indian
Reservation in Minnesota, said she
was there to support the people.
“It’s time to end the fossil-fuel in-
frastructure,” said LaDuke. “These
people on this reservation they
don’t have adequate infrastructure
for their houses, they don’t have ad-
equate energy infrastructure, they
don’t have adequate highway infra-
structure and yet they are looking
at a $3.8 billion pipeline that will
not help them. It will only help oil
companies. That’s why we’re here.
We’re here to protect this land.”
Tribal members urge support
Many Grand Ronde Tribal mem-
bers took to social media to express
their desire to have the Grand
Ronde Tribe join other Tribal na-
tions offering letters of support to
the Standing Rock Sioux.
Tribal member Lorena Rivera
said she wanted her 10-year-old
Tribal member daughter Anavey
to know that she has a voice and so
she urged Tribal Council to declare
its support hoping it would set an
example.
“I’m happy to see Grand Ronde
move in the direction of supporting
the Standing Rock,” said Rivera
via Facebook Messenger. “I believe
that water is sacred like most Na-
tives do. The water and land takes
care of us and we need to take care
of it for our children and our com-
munities.”
Tribal Elder Adrainne Llaneza
See PROTEST
continued on page 18