March 7 – 9 Native leaders and their allies will lobby in the halls of power in Washington DC on behalf of the protection of all Tribes.
March 10 Native peoples + their allies – gathering in thousands – will gather for a March from the Mall to the White House beginning at 10am. After the march, we will gather for a rally at the Ellipse. It is here we will make our demands to the new administration.
Members of Native American Tribes from around the country are gathering in Washington for four days of protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline that will finish off, with a Friday march on the White House. About 2 miles, from the Army Corps of Engineers office, to the White House, where a rally is scheduled.
Starting Tuesday, tribal members and supporters plan to camp each day on the National Mall, with teepees, a ceremonial fire, cultural workshops and speakers. Native American leaders also plan to lobby lawmakers to protect tribal rights.
“We are calling on all our Native relatives and allies to rise with us,” said Dave Archambault, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. “We must march against injustice. Native nations cannot continue to be pushed aside to benefit corporate interests and government whim.” *This is a symbolic Camp. No overnight sleeping is allowed in the camp. No other tents allowed. xTomorrow tipis will be placed on the National Mall & @NativeNationsRise will commence. RSVP here: https://t.co/3cNvBvBsip#NoDAPL#RESISTpic.twitter.com/wXihYlMyFX
— IndigenousEnviroNet (@IENearth) March 6, 2017 x Embedded ContentA Legal Challenge filed by the tribe on Feb 14, charges pipeline builder Dakota Access, LLc and the US Army Corps of Engineers with a range of environmental, cultural and Treaty-based violations.
It asks a Federal Judge to rule on whether the Army Corps broke laws and Treaties by allowing construction of the last part of the pipeline under lake Oahe. A Reservoir along the Missouri River in North Dakota.
“What you have is this well-supported decision, from a past Administration to do more and give a full consideration to Treaty Rights and then the second Administration throws it in the trash.” says Jan Hasselman of Earthjustice, who’s representing the Tribe in its lawsuit. “That’s just not how it works.
One of the Sioux’s main legal complaints is that construction of the pipeline near its reservation and through sites it considers sacred would violate the tribe’s treaty rights — specifically, its rights under the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie treaties. At the heart of the matter is the Sioux’s right to self-determination and tribal sovereignty. Tribes like the Sioux are independent, self-governing nations like any other in the world. And the sovereignty of tribal nations preexists the United States, just like the nations themselves.
The tribe’s legal motion also charges that the Army Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act by terminating an environmental review of the pipeline, and violated the Clean Water Act as well.The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has joined the Standing Rock Sioux in its legal challenge, and on Feb. 22, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe filed its own motion, in the case, calling on the court to reject the Army Corps’ permit for pipeline construction. Several other allies, such as the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, have filed amicus briefs supporting the Standing Rock Sioux’s legal case.
Hasselman believes the Sioux have strong legal claims that could lead to the pipeline’s approval being overturned. If the current legal motion fails, he says the tribe will appeal in federal circuit court. Even if oil starts flowing in the pipeline in the interim, it could still be shut off down the line, Hasselman told the Bismarck Tribune.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe joined the fray on Feb. 13 with its own lawsuit claiming that the pipeline threatened its treaty rights to safe drinking water.
Full Article-Standing Rock Sioux Will Keep Fighting Dakota Access In Court by Sabrina Imbler Grist Feb 28, 2017
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