The Next Big Resistance In South Dakota
It’s raining buckets outside. The back and forth of the windshield wipers and Siri’s monotone guidance accompanies me through the roads riddled with potholes and semi-trucks. I pass several gated factories to an empty corner of the property, where the Puyallup Tribe and their allies had been protesting the Puget Sound Energy Liquid Natural Gas (PSE LNG) site at the Port of Tacoma in Washington state the day previous. The tribe believes that contaminated soils (the site is within a large, untouched Superfund site) will be exposed by the proposed barge facility on the Hylebos, which would be to the detriment of fishing stocks and negatively impact tribal marinas that are across the waterway from the plant.
Tribal Land Rights
The Puyallup Tribe and their allies are not alone in their fight for environmental justice and their treaty rights. During the Standing Rock protests, headlines of the largest gathering of indigenous nations in modern American history setting up camp drew worldwide attention. Images of Native water protectors and their allies being bitten by police dogs, pepper sprayed during peaceful protest and hit with water cannons in below-freezing weather circulated all over social media and were eventually picked up and globally broadcast by large news networks. Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe member Nicole Ducheneaux, an attorney with the Indian Law Practice Fredericks Peebles & Morgan, currently represents the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is the sister tribe to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. They are both Lakota people and fought together against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), also known as the Bakken pipeline, on the ground and in court.
Ducheneaux’s experience as an attorney includes tribal economic development, gaming, corporate law, construction law, tribal housing and litigation. She has assisted in defending and prosecuting lawsuits in state, federal and tribal courts, and was selected by Super Lawyers Magazine as a “2017 Great Plains Rising Star.” The DAPL dispute raised a lot of questions about territory and treaty rights. Ducheneaux explains simply, “Pursuant to our treaties, our [The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe] rights extend beyond the borders of our reservation…they didn’t extinguish our hunting and fishing rights in those areas. We explicitly have a right to use Lake Oahe, to use the waters and the lands that sustain our hunting and fishing. When pipelines cross under our reserved rights and have the potential to harm our waters that flow into our reservation, then that has the potential to violate a treaty right.”
Photography by Lucas Zhao
These treaties were created many generations ago; as a result, the laws are unknown to many Americans, which is where much of the misinformation and confusion came from during the onset of the #NoDAPL movement. “Just because they [treaties] seem like old, stale history, [they are] in fact as vital as any other law that we abide by today,” Ducheneaux reiterates. “When it comes to these rights that we have to sustain ourselves on fresh, clean water, and our rights to hunt and fish, and take animals for food and ceremonial purposes—which are things that Indians do today—the United States has the obligation under these treaties and under federal law to protect those for us.” Unless congress aggregates the treaties, they are as binding by the United States as the day they were enacted.
The Politics of Pipelines
“The Supreme Court of the United States, in a case analyzing treaties, once said, ‘Great men, like great nations, must keep their word,’” Ducheneaux explains. “Of course, we are in a strange political atmosphere, where truth telling and honor is maybe not the most paramount thing.” Telling the truth is quite difficult for this administration, but personal financial gain has been paramount. Rex Tillerson, the now former Secretary of State, retired from his career as the CEO of Exxon Mobil to take the position with the U.S. Department of State. This is a department that, among many other things, negotiates, interprets and terminates treaties and agreements.
Much like Tillerson, the POTUS himself has financial interests in oil. He not only owned Exxon Mobil stock, he held stock in the company building the DAPL. Trump’s 2016 federal disclosure forms show his stock in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. In November 2016, the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, Kelcy Warren, told NBC News: “I’m 100 percent sure that the pipeline will be approved by a Trump administration…I believe we will have a government in place that believes in energy infrastructure.”
Although he sold his stake in the company before taking office, Trump has been the recipient of generous political contributions from Warren. Warren made $1.53 million in campaign contributions to super PACs(committees that raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals in an effort to influence the outcome of state and federal elections). He contributed $252,300 to individual campaigns and the GOP, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and $100,000 to The Trump Victory Fund (a joint fundraising committee that includes Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and some state parties). President Trump became the 45th president of the United States on January 20, 2016; by January 24, Trump had signed executive actions to advance both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. The White House has also not confirmed whether Trump still owns shares in Phillips 66, which has a one-quarter share of the DAPL.
Trump and his administration have become so cozy with the oil giants that the Independent Petroleum Association of America will be having their “Congressional Call-Up” this year at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. That said, American politicians aren’t the only ones lining their pockets with oil money. Foreign interests are lining up to profit from the impending pipelines and fracking. TransCanada Corporation, for example, is a Canadian company that solely owns the Keystone Pipeline System. The portion of the Keystone Pipeline residing within the United States includes 1,084 miles of new, 30-inch diameter pipeline in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. In 2011, the second phase of Keystone included a 298-mile extension from Steele City, Nebraska, to Cushing, Oklahoma. In addition, eleven new pump stations were built to increase the oil capacity of the pipeline from 435,000 to 591,000 barrels per day.
Phase three was completed in 2014, which has the capacity to deliver up to 700,000 barrels of oil per day to Texas refineries. Phase four, also known as Keystone XL (KXL), will potentially add 510,000 barrels per day, increasing the total capacity up to 1.1 million barrels per day. That is a huge payday for a foreign company, if the company can secure land easements from the land owners in its path. According to a post by the Harvard Environmental Law Program, the State of Nebraska has “rejected TransCanada’s petition to use an alternative route closer to the original proposed route.” The rejection took place in December of 2017, and many opponents of the pipeline see the vote against an alternative route a win.
The Benefits of Big Oil For Americans
If we continue to follow the money, in an attempt to look past the ways in which the pipelines benefit politicians and foreign interests, can we find benefits, financial or otherwise, for the American populace? President and TransCanada Corporation CEO Russell K. Girling argued that “the U.S. needs 10 million barrels a day of imported oil,” but according to a study done by Danielle Droitsch of Pembina Institute, “a good portion of the oil that will gush down the KXL will probably end up being finally consumed beyond the territorial United States.” The study also explains how the project will increase the heavy crude oil price in the Midwestern United States by diverting oil from oil sand deposits from the Midwest refineries to the Gulf Coast and export markets. So not only will the oil running through these pipelines not be going to the American people, it will cause American oil prices to rise.
Rep. Ed Markey (D) of Massachusetts asked if TransCanada would support legislation that required Canadian oil and products refined from oil, such as diesel, to be sold only in the United States, “so that this country [the U.S.] realizes all of the energy security benefits your company and others have promised?” To which Alex Pourbaix, President and CEO of TransCanada responded simply, “No, I can’t do that.” Pourbaix refuses to agree to requests like that of Rep. Markey because KXL was never intended for the U.S.
According to a report prepared by Ensys Energy for the Department of Energy, Canadian oil import growth (the oil imported to the US from Canada and its pipelines) will go on at “almost identical” levels through 2030 with the existing and new pipeline capacity, as well as rail shipments, whether or not Keystone XL is built, as Keystone XL is an export pipeline for international buyers. This would decrease the US energy supply and increase the cost of oil in the American Midwest, which is why President Obama denied permission to build the Keystone XL, stating it did “not serve the national interest at this time,” and that there were unresolved concerns, including energy security, economic effects and environmental impacts. In other words, Americans would see no return or growth in imported oil due to KXL, but will continue to bear the burden of its presence.
Even so, politicians, the media and much of the public were polarized on the topic. Mitt Romney insisted that “[t]he president demonstrates a lack of seriousness about bringing down unemployment, restoring economic growth, and achieving energy independence,” and Newt Gingrich said the decision “weakens America’s national security and kills thousands of well-paying American jobs.” As mentioned above, study after study has shown that KXL will not contribute to America’s energy independence. The question, then, remains: Will the continued development of these pipelines contribute to enough economic growth and well-paying jobs for Americans to neutralize the rise in oil prices?
[facebook url=”https://www.facebook.com/TransCanadaCorporation/videos/2036758253263117/” /]
Videos like the one above would put most people at ease. They give sound, logical explanations to environmental safety. Those who work for the company are proud of their work, (as they should be, they work hard) and the proactive detection methods they are using seem foolproof. Yet large spills continue to happen.
TransCanada’s spill risk assessment for Keystone claimed that the chance of a leak of more than 50 barrels to be “not more than once every seven to eleven years over the entire length of the pipeline in the United States.” Keystone I, which runs from Hardisty, Alberta, to Patoka, Illinois, spilled twelve times in its first year. TransCanada’s spill analysis for Keystone XL (which would cross Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska) claims only 2.2 leaks per decade, with half of those at three barrels or less. They estimate that spills exceeding 1,000 barrels would occur at an estimated rate of once per century, but federal data on the actual incidence of spills on comparable pipelines indicate “a more likely average of almost two major spills per year.”
In November 2017 the Keystone leaked what was reported as 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota. Kent Moeckly, a nearby land owner and member of the Dakota Rural Action Group, revealed to VICE News that “What we found out working with TransCanada, it could very well be 600,000 gallons.” There were no initial reports of damage to water sources or wildlife, but it’s in close enough proximity to Sioux land as to have potentially contaminated the aquifer used for their water.Dave Flute, tribal chairman for Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, is one of many who opposed the pipeline and was concerned about possible contamination. “We want to know how long is it going to take to dig this plume of contaminated soil and how can we be reassured, without a doubt, that it has not and will not seep into the aquifer,” he said. We spoke with Ruth Hopkins, part of the Oceti Sakowin, or what mainstream media refer to as the Great Sioux Nation. Hopkins is a renowned lawyer, judge, writer and activist. When we asked if the aquifer had been contaminated, she replied simply, “Yeah, it has, but we still don’t know the extent.” Months after the spill, the tribal community still does not know how badly their drinking water has been poisoned.
Local farmers have spoken up as well. Jeanne Crumly and about ninety other Nebraska landowners have not signed easements with TransCanada and have urged against issuing a permit for the project because of the potential for a spill to spoil their groundwater and decimate agricultural land. Yet TransCanada still stands by their message that “[t]he safety of the public and environment are our top priorities…”
While this may be true, it has become clear that spills are inevitable; there is no surefire way to prevent future leaks and spills. Don Tisher, who neighbors the 210,000-gallon spill near Amherst, South Dakota, was interviewed by TransCanada and shared his perspective as a supporter and farmer who was there when the pipeline spilled. He claimed that “[t]hey were very good to work with, and they bent over backwards to help anything I had to do with them. It was a learning experience.” Tisher was unbothered by all of it. When asked what he thought about the controversy over the spill and those who opposed it, Tisher said flatly, “It’s a pipe. You have leaks in your house so why wouldn’t the pipeline leak at some point or [an]other, but they’ll fix it. It’s still the safest, the surest way, the cheapest way of moving oil and I’m not going to live long enough to see the time when we don’t need gasoline and diesel fuel.”
Well, Mr. Tisher, there are still many generations after you to think about. The proposed KXL would cross 1,904 waterways, which include the Ogallala aquifer, the largest source of freshwater in the United States. If this aquifer is contaminated, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico’s drinking water and irrigation water for the farmers that produce roughly one fifth of America’s agricultural output face contamination. Luckily, the Nebraska Public Service Commission decided against this route in November of last year. The NPSC approved an alternate route away from Nebraska’s Sandhills region and the Ogallala aquifer, which suggests the commission understands the potential environmental impact of KXL. TransCanada did not respond to our request for further comment.
Outside of environmental safety, there is the issue of the toxic effects of oil on populations residing near spills. In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill) leaked an estimated 4.9 million barrels, impacting 68,000 square miles of ocean (the size of Oklahoma). By early June 2010, oil had washed up on 125 miles of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama coastline. By October, weathered oil reached Texas. Chemicals from the spill were found in migratory birds as far away as Minnesota. Dead baby dolphins washed up along Mississippi and Alabama shorelines at about 10 times the normal number; the dolphin deaths have been linked to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These deaths represent a small fraction of the damage done to animal life.
Mike Robicheux, a Louisiana physician, described the situation as “the biggest public health crisis from a chemical poisoning in the history of this country.” Residents of the Louisiana Gulf Coast and cleanup crews are dealing with spill-related illnesses ranging from headaches and vomiting to more serious issues, like lack of muscle coordination and cancer. Pipelines may be the safest, most environmentally friendly way to transport natural gas and petroleum, but that does not make them safe. Pipelines break. The destruction that ensues cannot be reversed, no matter how “committed to safety” any company may be.
“What’s clear is that extractive industries and the government have financial incentive to get these pipelines under way and they are unshockingly unconcerned with the safety risks and essentially lied to us about how safe the pipeline is going to be,” Ducheneaux insists. “Extractive industries, mining, oil—they prey on tribal resources because they feel that we don’t have any political power, so it will be easy for them to get government permits to go in and rape the earth and take our resources and to pollute.”
Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women
Beyond the safety of the pipelines themselves, and the safety of the environment and those who work and live near potential spills, there is the safety of those who live near the build sites. This issue requires national attention. The epidemic of missing and/or murdered indigenous women (M.M.I.W.) were represented at the national Women’s March this year. In an effort to raise awareness, loved ones proudly marched in unity, demanding action for Indigenous women and girls who have gone missing, been tortured, raped, trafficked, assaulted and murdered due to the massive “man camps” that are going up near or on reservations.
Findings from a research analysis funded by the National Institute of Justice reveal that, on some reservations, murder rates of Native women occur at a rate “more than ten times the national average.” While in some states legislation is underway, there is currently no comprehensive or reliable resource for collecting data on the number of native women who go missing or end up murdered annually. In an interview with the Bismark Tribune, North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem stated that “12 of the state’s top oil-producing counties accounted for much of that crime.” The crime Stenehjem is referring to is violent crime against Native women. “Anytime we have any kind of oil construction we have the development of these ‘man camps’ and it brings sex and drug trafficking to the area and then we have a spike in cases of women that are being victimized, particularly by non-natives. We don’t have jurisdiction over non-natives so there’s a loophole in the law that allows native women to fall prey to sexual violence,” Hopkins shared.
“Man camps” are simply temporary housing facilities constructed for predominantly male workers. Many of these men understand that tribal police do not have the right to arrest and prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes on Indian land, creating conditions for drugs, violence, and the human trafficking of Indigenous women and girls. The Supreme Court case Oliphant v. Suquamish stripped tribes of the right to arrest and prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes on Indian land, creating a jurisdictional nightmare. These workers are living in a remote environment; law enforcement is already stretched beyond its limits. Generally, the harshest enforcement tool a tribal officer can legally wield over a non-Indian is a traffic ticket. As Sadie Young Bird, a tribal officer at Fort Berthold in North Dakota told The Atlantic, “Perpetrators think they can’t be touched…They’re invincible.” Fort Berthold’s population more than doubled with non-Indian oil workers since the oil boom hit North Dakota between 2008 and 2013, and tribal police have little legal control over the newcomers.
Grace Her Many Horses, former Rosebud Sioux Tribe Police Chief, recounts one instance of many: “We found a crying, naked, four-year-old girl running down one of the roads right outside of the man camp. She had been sexually assaulted.” The barbarity of the crimes is terrifying, and there is little to no rectification for the victims and their families. The safety of indigenous peoples has not been addressed by the pipeline companies who allow their presence to disrupt the communities they’re temporarily a part of; these atrocities go largely dismissed by outside law enforcement.
The U.S. Justice Department failed to prosecute or look into sixty-five percent of rape cases reported on reservations in 2011 alone. In eighty-six percent of those cases, the assailant is non-Indian, according to department records. Underage girls are kidnapped, assaulted and go missing all the time. When we talked to Hopkins, she explained how she uses her platform as a writer and activist to draw attention to each missing girl. “It has just received so little attention, and there is not a lot of awareness about it. Pretty much weekly there is another case,” she told us. “The Lake Traverse Reservation where the Keystone spilled is now on a sex trafficking corridor because of the oil boom in western North Dakota.”
What Now…
“Thousands and thousands and thousands of people were camped and living there and participating in direct nonviolent action every day,” Ducheneaux told us, referring to Standing Rock. “We were so lucky to have those people and the public in general to stand by us. What it achieved is something we haven’t had in Indian country in a long time.” What hasn’t been happening in Indian country is real collaboration between the grassroots organizers participating in activism on the ground in collaboration with the legal process happening in Washington D.C. Because of this, the Obama administration put a hold on the project in an effort to go back and reconsider the situation, resulting in a full environmental impact statement—one which, as we know, was immediately reversed upon Trump’s inauguration.
But nobody is giving up just yet. “We went through to the summary judgement process that addressed our treaty issues and our NIFA claims, and we prevailed on that in June—it was not well publicized. What the court ruled is that both the easement and the permit to go under the river were illegal because A) The court didn’t address the environmental analysis, B) The court failed to analyze the impact of a potential spill on our treaty rights to hunt and fish on Lake Oahe and C) That the court had failed to consider the extent to which the methods and data that they relied upon were flawed. That’s where we are now,” Ducheneaux explained in detail.
But things have changed since Standing Rock. In response to the thousands of people who came together to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, South Dakota’s governor signed into law a bill that would expand the power of his office to curtail protest activities in the state. Senate Bill 176 only allows protest activities to set up in “public safety zones” in gatherings of 20 people or less. Remi Bald Eagle, who is in intergovernmental affairs with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, is among many who had much to say about the new legislation: “SB176 comes dangerously close to restricting constitutional rights. Nowhere in the constitution does it say anything about how many people can assemble peaceably.” Hopkins echoed Eagle’s sentiments, telling us, “From my view, someone in the legal profession and also someone who is an activist, I see this as something that is unconstitutional because it is definitely infringing on people’s right to free speech and freedom of assembly. They basically passed this law to protect the Keystone pipeline, which is a foreign corporation.”
SB176 also authorizes the Department of Transportation to restrict protester access to highways by prohibiting “stopping, standing or parking” in certain areas. Eagle, Hopkins and Ducheneaux all agreed that this too will be disputed. “We also feel that the right of way on roads is for the public, which includes all the freedoms endowed to the public by the bill of rights. The tribe doesn’t support the blocking of traffic, but we do support the people’s right to assemble to the right and left of the road,” Eagle affirmed.
Hopkins further validated these details, saying, “It’s not over yet. You’re going to see lawsuits.” Ducheneaux echoed their sentiments with resounding resistance: “To me that is a clear violation of our constitutional rights to freely exercise and express our first amendment rights to protest, and make our government know what our feelings are. It will be interesting to see how it works out and how South Dakota enforces it, because I think that the day will come when Keystone is knocking at our door…the tribe is prepared to stand in front and work with grassroots people and work with the green groups and other activists and allies who will stand up with us to make sure that peaceful and prayerful protesters have an opportunity to gather and make themselves heard, the way that they did at Standing Rock.”
North Dakota, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Texas took it a step further and proposed bills that would make it legal for drivers to hit protesters if the driver “did not do so willfully.” So far, none of these bills have passed, but it does shed light on the length that these legislators will go to protect a foreign oil company. Lives may literally be at stake, but many more lives are at stake if the oil industry continues at its current rate.
In January of 2018, the Ohio EPA told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission it is “deeply concerned” about a new spill from the Rover Pipeline (another Energy Transfer Partners pipeline). One hundred and fifty thousand gallons of drilling fluid was “lost” under the Tuscarawas River in southwestern Stark County. The same site saw a leak of over two million gallons of drilling fluid that turned up in a nearby wetland. In February of this year, anywhere from one to four thousand gallons of oil is estimated to have spilled in the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina. The spills are only becoming more frequent. “Every single day it seems like we are confronted with an environmental atrocity that is knocking on our door,” Ducheneaux expressed.
The DAPL runs within a half-mile of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and crosses beneath the Missouri River, the primary water source for the reservation. “Keystone XL crosses within three miles of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe reservation and is going to cross under a tributary that flows into our drinking source, Lake Oahe. Other bodies of water on our reservation are polluted with mine tailings from the Black Hills,” Ducheneaux reveals. “A feasibility study determined that if we lost access to the waters of Lake Oahe, this reservation would have no water at all. Every community, every person living here would have to have bottled water to survive.” Additionally, Puget Sound Energy is building a potentially devastating Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) plant on a site sandwiched between Puyallup reservation boundaries in Washington state. There has never been an LNG plant of this size near homes, ever, anywhere. These are just a few of the many oil projects that will devastate Indigenous communities.
When you take a look at the routes of these projects, they follow the highest areas of poverty; in America, the highest areas of poverty are most often in Indian Country. Over half of them are tribal nations, leaving many feeling targeted. “The reality is that these pipeline companies appear to purposely route their pipelines to get as close to Indian reservations as possible. Why? They do it because they feel that we don’t have any political clout…in the DAPL case, they didn’t want to pollute Bismarck. They explicitly rejected a route that would potentially endanger the city of Bismarck and moved it down to endanger Standing Rock,” Ducheneaux explains, obviously unsettled.
The Next Big Resistance
Ducheneaux told us that they are gearing up in unity for the next big resistance. The DAPL protests at Standing Rock were only the beginning. The Water protectors are in waiting at critical areas on their reservations. If the Keystone XL is approved, the power of the people will once again utilize their right to assembly, regardless of the new unconstitutional law put in place in South Dakota. “We do have campsites; the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe does at the southeast corner of our reservation,” Ducheneaux explained. “The tribe understands that this will someday be a flashpoint for continued unrest and distress surrounding the pipeline, and so when that time comes I believe the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe will express to their allies that they are prepared to welcome people who would like to join a water protector movement.” Hopkins reiterates that “[t]here is a camp by the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota that is there in case they start building the Keystone XL Pipeline through the area, and there is another one as well. There are still camps, so if Keystone XL does start coming through, then you are potentially going to see another situation like Standing Rock.”
“This isn’t a Native or non-Native issue. It isn’t a left or right issue. It’s potentially a life or death issue, not only for those in the path of Keystone XL, but the masses,” Brandon Sazue, Chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Great Sioux Nation urged. His sentiments mirror that of every Indigenous community struggling to combat the environmental annihilation these companies will bring. “We are standing up for everybody, so if people want to be a part of the movement they can stand up with us,” Ducheneaux told us. “Our elders have taught us that the Lakota people, the Indian people were put on this Earth by creator to be the defenders of the Earth. We take that very seriously…we are ready, the Cheyenne River Sioux people are ready to stand up and fight for grandmother Earth when we are asked to.”
Protesters and police descended on North Dakota during the #NoDAPL movement, which has already spilled three times since it was approved, effectively proving the original concerns correct. During #NoDAPL, Sophia Wilansky nearly lost her arm after police threw a concussion grenade into the crowd of protesters that exploded near Wilansky’s arm; more than 300 protesters were injured by North Dakota law enforcement officers after they used water cannons, tear gas and other “less-than-lethal” weapons on unarmed protesters. Of those injured, 26 were hospitalized with bone fractures and hypothermia. Vanessa Dundon was shot in the face with a tear gas canister and lost sight in her right eye. The list of injuries goes on. Water protectors, veterans and their allies put their lives on the line to protect the future of food, water, health and wealth in America.
Although these large corporations often seem like unbeatable adversaries, there is a very real opportunity to put a stop to the pipelines (“The Black Snake”). The Sabal Trail pipeline may be shut down because of its climate impacts; the Mountain Valley pipeline has been paused because of the 300 property owners who refused to surrender their land for the controversial project; House Bill 1223 would stop the construction of oil pipelines in South Dakota indefinitely. Although the DAPL is still running, the decision has been remanded and is being reconsidered in court. The oil company is expected to provide reports guaranteeing safety and submit an audit of the pipeline which will include safety issues.
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, however, like most Indigenous communities, is incredibly poor—and legal battles are extremely expensive. “Our reservation includes the county that was counted as the poorest per capita in the 2010 census. There is over 80 percent poverty and unemployment on our reservation,” Ducheneaux explains. “When the tribe wants to stand up and fight, we find ourselves making a decision between, ‘Well are we going to fund propane for our elderly who are suffering right now in ten-below weather or are we going to stand up and be warriors in support of the Earth.’” Ducheneaux and others have created a documentary to help people understand the struggle and the importance of the ongoing dispute, and have given those who support the cause the opportunity to support them through crowdfunding.
Nobody is painting the picture that all oil workers are criminals or that all those who work for these companies have no moral compass. TransCanada, as a company, seemingly works towards racial and gender equality internally, gives college scholarships, and during the holidays even helps the needy. Sometimes it’s just about finding a job that will support you and your family’s future. But we cannot allow America to become another country where environmental activists are being killed; we cannot allow Indigenous communities to be treated as second class citizens and overlook the crime and drugs that are brought into these communities by the ‘man camps.’ We cannot allow corporations to put their bottom line before the lives—and livelihoods—of the entire country.
Originally Published on DopeMagazine.com