FREE//GRATUITO
Published by Acción Latina
eltecolote.org
Septiembre 8-21, 2016
Vol. 46 No. 18
Indigenous tribes unite against Dakota pipeline, protect sacred land Tribus indígenas unidas en contra de la construcción de gasoducto, protegen tierra sagrada R.M. Arrieta El Tecolote
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n the continued fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline Project (DAPL), thousands have joined the Red Warrior and Sacred Stone camps in North Dakota, where the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and members of more than 100 tribes from across the United States and Canada have held a steady resistance against the pipeline’s construction for months. DAPL—a project by the Dakota Access LLC, itself a part of the Energy Transfer Partners—is a $3.8 billion, 1,100-mile pipeline that when finished would carry “fracked” oil from the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota to Peoria, Illinois. (“Fracking,” short for hydraulic fracturing, is an environmentally destructive technique for drilling that involves injecting high-pressurized fluid into the earth to fracture rock and allow oil or gas to flow into wells.) DAPL is to be built across Lakota Treaty Territory at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where it would be laid underneath the Missouri River—the longest river on the continent. To ward off the growing protest, during the Labor Day weekend, Dakota Access sent private security forces, equipped with trucks, dogs and mace, to the construction site. According to first person eyewitness accounts, on Sept. 3, as DAPL crews began to bulldoze the land (an area with great ceremonial significance) in preparation for laying more of the oil pipeline, hundreds of marchers rallied in unison against DAPL. Demonstrators, who at first were blocked off from the actual construction site by a wire fence, flooded into the construction zone in an attempt to stop the bulldozers. Dozens of the marchers were pepper-sprayed and six were even attacked by dogs held by private security forces. “I got maced twice and bit by a dog. I was on the front line,” a young full-blood Oglala Sioux marcher from the Pine Ridge Reservation told Democracy Now reporter Amy Goodman. When asked why he was there, the young man answered, “Water is life. Without water we all wouldn’t be here.” Another marcher, wearing a Vietnam Veterans bandana, said, “We are caretakers of the earth. We win every day when we stand in unity.” There were no verbal warnings prior to the pepper spraying and dog attacks according to eyewitnesses. The protesters pushed on, despite the attacks, until construction on the site was shut down for the day—but not before Energy Transfer Partners did some damage. Construction crews destroyed sacred places with ancient burial sites and cultural artifacts of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe at the area where the Cannonball and Missouri rivers join, according to Tribal Chairman David Archambault II. “This demolition is devastating,” Archambault told Indian
Defending the homeland
En defensa de la tierra
Dennis Bank (al centro) del American Indian Movement, encabeza una caminata de oración al sitio de construcción del Dakota Access Pipeline en Standing Rock, Dakota del Norte, el 3 de septiembre. Dennis Banks (center) of American Indian Movement leads a prayer walk to the Dakota Access Pipeline construction site at Standing Rock, North Dakota on Sept. 3. Photo Tomas Alejo R. M. Arrieta
Country Today. “These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground.” According to Dallas Goldtooth, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, who spoke via a conference call with members of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and Center for Justice and Accountability, the Sioux tribe has filed a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers for failing to consult with tribes, even though it crosses six miles north of a source for drinking water. “The oil company is breaking up the pipeline into smaller pieces so that they don’t need to get [a] full environmental impact statement on [the] full length. They have only gotten environmental impact statements on some of the smaller piece-projects,” said Goldtooth. Tribes have demanded an impact statement on the full 1,200mile length of the river. On Sept. 6 U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a ruling that temporarily halts construction on portions of the pipeline between State Highway 1806 and 20 miles east of Lake Oahe, according to Indian Country Today Media Network. However, Boasberg denied a temporary restraining order on construction west of Highway 1806, lands that have already been marred by bulldozers. “We are disappointed that the U.S. District Court’s decision does not prevent Dakota Access Pipeline from destroying our sacred sites as we await a ruling on our original motion to stop construction of the pipeline,” said See pipeline, page 2
El Tecolote
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Indígenas defensores del agua son atacados por perros de los elementos de seguridad privada contratados por Dakota Access, LLC. Private security contractors hired by Dakota Access LLC attack indigenous water defenders with dogs and pepper spray at the pipeline construction site at Standing Rock, North Dakota on Sept. 3. Photo Tomas Alejo
Elementos de seguridad privada contratados por Dakota Access LLL atacan a indígenas defensores del agua con perros y gas pimienta en el sitio de construcción del gasoducto en Standing Rock, Dakota del Norte. Private security contractors hired by Dakota Access LLC attack indigenous water defenders with dogs and pepper spray at the pipeline construction site at Standing Rock, North Dakota on Sept. 3. Photo Tomas Alejo
n la lucha continua sobre el proyecto del oleoducto Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), miles se han unido a los campamentos Red Warrior y Sacred Stoneen en Dakota del Norte, donde la tribu Sioux de Standing Rock y los miembros de más de 100 tribus de EEUU y Canadá han llevado a cabo una resistencia constante contra la construcción del oleoducto durante meses. El DAPL consiste en un proyecto —de Dakota Access LLC, parte de Energy Transers Partners— de $3.8 billones para la construcción de un ducto de 1,770 kilómetros que cuando termine transportaría petróleo “fracked” de los yacimientos de Bakken, en Dakota del Norte a Peoria, Illinois (“Fracking”, remite a la forma abreviada de fracturación hidráulica, que consiste en una técnica ambientalmente destructiva utilizada en la perforación que inyecta fluido a alta presión en la tierra para fracturar la roca y permitir que el petróleo o el gas fluya hacia los pozos.) DAPL se va a construir a lo largo del territorio del Tratado de Lakota en la Reserva Sioux de Standing Rock, donde se colocaría por debajo del río Missouri —el más largo del continente. Para protegerse de la creciente protesta, durante el fin de semana del Día del Trabajo, Dakota Access envió fuerzas de seguridad privadas, equipadas con camiones, perros y gases, al sitio de construcción. Los equipos de construcción destruyeron lugares sagrados con antiguos cementerios y artefactos culturales de la tribu Sioux de Standing Rock en la zona donde Vea DAKOTA, página 2