Saturday, September 10, 2016

The original plan called for pipeline to run though mainly-white Bismarck

The Snake is headed our way.
Isn't this the way things go?

According to court documents, original proposals for construction placed the pipeline near the water supply for Bismarck, a city that is 88% white. “They altered the route because people were concerned about the impact on the city’s water supply,” Jan Hasselman, an Earthjustice attorney representing the tribe said in an interview. “ (The government) put the risk on the tribe. That’s not right.” -- High Country News

The Army Corps of Engineers has a long history of taking lands at Standing Rock including the creation of Lake Oahe which inundated prime agricultural lands and fruit orchards so mainly-white Bismarkians would have a place to water ski and fish for walleye.

Super proud of the Windy City for the big turnout at yesterday's solidarity rally and march on the Army Corps of Engineers office. Other protests took place in cities around the country, including Bismarck. 

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's ruling was a big blow. But Justice Dept. and Army Corps of Engineers heard footsteps and have temporarily halted operations.

Classic Obama... He calls on Dakota Access to "voluntarily" delay bulldozing Sioux sacred ground.

Chicago solidarity marchers.
But at least Obama did/said something (only after being embarrassed by a student in Laos). Where's Hillary Clinton? She reversed herself last year and came out in opposition to the XL Keystone Pipeline. But now, as the battle rages in Standing Rock, her silence is deafening. Is she afraid of offending the big-bank campaign contributors who have sunk more that $3B into the project? Or the neocon Republicans who have allied with her against Trump?
This despite the fact that the Democratic platform devotes more space to protecting Native American rights than any single other issue. The section was written by a Bernie Sanders appointee, veteran tribal campaigner Deborah Parker, but it was approved unanimously and without debate by every single member of team Clinton, who were in constant contact with their campaign headquarters. -- Bill McKibben, L.A. Times
My friend, filmmaker Michelle Noble drove 23 hours from L.A. to film, record from the encampment. She posted this video clip today.

My fave headline of the day, from the Bismarck Tribune:
Highway 1806 was briefly closed as protesters, horses entered the roadway




1 comment:

  1. Who is surprised that Clinton has not come out to support Standing Rock or that Obama made such a weak statement (& only after being goaded into it)?
    BTW, also rather low of him to tout the TPP on his trip--because he knows the rising resistance to it here, at home.
    His weak (which, in reality, translates to nada/zip/zero)"support" of stopping the DPL will be his legacy.
    Once again, he has taken the low road in not ensuring the future of "other people's children," by allowing corporations (because Energy Access is a conglomerate/joint effort of numerous companies & the Big Banks {& look what just happened at Wells Fargo {W.F. is, of course, one of the banks financing the DPL} with the customer account transfers & fraud)to ruin their homelands and poison their water, in addition to disrupting their education and their normal routines.
    And that, too, will be his legacy.

    ReplyDelete

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