Sign the petition: Stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline
It’s Keystone XL all over again: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has granted approval for a dirty oil pipeline that would stretch over 1,100 miles through the upper Midwest.
The Dakota Access pipeline would carry 450,000 barrels of dirty oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois and cut through fragile wildlife habitat, environmentally sensitive areas, and sovereign tribal property. Worse, the pipeline would cross under the Missouri River, threatening drinking water downstream if a catastrophic oil spill occurs.
Led by the Standing Rock Sioux, a massive wave of inspiring grassroots opposition is building, with protests and civil disobedience temporarily halting construction in recent days. But construction is moving forward, and is scheduled to be completed soon. President Obama must intervene now and stop the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.
The Army Corps of Engineers granted the Dakota Access pipeline’s permits using a controversial fast-tracking process called “Nationwide Permit 12” that allows the Corps to essentially rubber-stamp pipeline projects on private property or Native American lands with little environmental review and no meaningful public input.
The Corps incorrectly applied this fast-track process in conflict with numerous federal laws and agreements, including the “Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, as well as federal trust responsibilities guaranteed in the 1851 and 1868 United States treaties with the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes.”
The Standing Rock Sioux have been protesting for months in peaceful prayer camps in North Dakota, and farmers and landowners in Iowa have been fighting to stop the pipeline there for more than two years. Now, thousands of people have joined in solidarity. In recent days, activists in Iowa and North Dakota have been arrested for physically blocking the pipeline’s construction, with more protests planned in the coming weeks and months.
We must stand with the local leaders and communities who are holding the line against this dirty and dangerous oil pipeline.
This fight is winnable. Hundreds of thousands of CREDO activists, along with our allies across the country, applied massive public pressure on the Obama administration and stopped the Keystone XL pipeline. We can and must do it again.
Thanks for all you do.
References:
- Jack Healy, “Occupying the Prairie: Tensions Rise as Tribes Move to Block a Pipeline,” The New York Times, August 23, 2016.
- Letter to President Obama regarding the Dakota Access pipeline, August 25, 2016.
- “Protesters arrested at Dakota Access Pipeline site,” Valley News Live, August 31, 2016.
- William Petroski, “30 arrested in bid to disrupt Iowa pipeline project,” The Des Moines Register, September 1, 2016.
Originally published at act.credoaction.com.
