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Standing Rock

Water Protector Sentenced To Time In Federal Prison For DAPL Protests

June 14, 2018 Alexandra Jacobo, Nation of Change. , ,
Michael “Little Feather” Giron, a member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, was sentenced to thirty-six months in federal prison this week. He is the first person to be sentenced to serious prison time for his role in the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Little Feather has already spent fifteen months of his life incarcerated – time which will be credited to him as part of the sentencing – but still faces at least eleven months in prison. His legal team hopes that he will be released after eleven months to a halfway house.

Climate Justice And The Kinder Morgan Pipeline: Is This The Next Standing Rock?

May 23, 2018 Theo LeQuesne, Climatejusticeproject.org , , , ,
May 2018. “Standing Rock is everywhere now.” We heard this refrain time and again in the days and weeks that followed the violent defeat and eviction of Standing Rock’s Water Protectors at the Oceti Sakowin camp on the banks of the Cannon Ball River in February last year. And it is true – despite their ultimate defeat, Standing Rock’s Water Protectors have inspired or reinvigorated uprisings against the colonial and extractivist fossil fuel industry (and its enablers in government) across North America. Standing Rock’s legacy lives in the imaginaries of the thousands of people who stood together against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the hundreds of thousands who supported them.

Standing Rock: Dakota Access Pipeline Leak Technology Can’t Detect All Spills

March 15, 2018 Phil McKenna, Insideclimatenews.org , ,
Nine months after oil starting flowing through the Dakota Access pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe continues to fight the controversial project, which passes under the Missouri River just upstream from their water supply. In a 313-page report submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the tribe challenged the adequacy of leak detection technology used by pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners. The tribe also questioned the company's worst-case spill estimate and faulted Energy Transfer Partners for failing to provide a detailed emergency response plan to the tribe showing how the company would respond to an oil spill. "We wanted to show how and what we are still fighting here," said Doug Crow Ghost, water resources director for the Standing Rock Tribe.

Standing Rock Sioux People Sue Opioid Industry

February 18, 2018 Staff, TelesurTV , , ,
The Standing Rock Sioux people of the United States have filed a federal lawsuit against the opioid industry, alleging they created a public health crisis in their reservation by concealing the addiction risks of drugs through misleading advertising and deceptive trade practices.    The Indigenous nation, located in North and South Dakota, joins other Indigenous peoples of Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas that have filed similar lawsuits accusing the opioid industry of violating federal racketeering laws, deceptive trade practices and fraudulent and negligent conduct.

Marathon Reaches Deal With Investors On Human Rights

February 15, 2018 David Hasemyer, Insideclimatenews.org , ,
In the face of mounting pressure from investors and the glare of public scrutiny, Marathon Petroleum Corp. officials acknowledged that the company has a responsibility to address environmental and social risks—including potential violations of the rights of indigenous people. However, in an agreement signed Friday with a block of shareholders, the oil company also said that the ultimate responsibility for protecting human rights lies with government regulators. Human rights activists described the concessions as superficial and said the lack of binding requirements could allow the company to continue with little reform. Shareholders in the Ohio-based company turned up the heat after seeing the treatment of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others protesting the Dakota Access pipeline, a project Marathon bought into just as tensions were boiling over in 2016.

Oil Investors Call For Human Rights Risk Report After Standing Rock

February 9, 2018 David Hasemeyer, Insideclimatenews.org , , ,
The clash between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and backers of the Dakota Access pipeline unfolded in news clips of violence, intolerance and humiliation. Demonstrators against the pipeline were met with snarling guard dogs, armed security officers and fire hoses that drenched them during freezing weather. For a block of shareholders in Marathon Petroleum Corp., an Ohio-based company that bought a minority interest in the Dakota Access pipeline just as tensions hit a flashpoint in 2016, it was an unsettling scene that played out on social media and network news. What happened in full view of the world on the remote plains of North Dakota has prompted a shareholder resolution calling on Marathon to explain how it identifies and addresses environmental and social risks—including potential violations of the rights of indigenous peoples...

Standing Rock Water Protector Reaches Non-Cooperating Plea Agreement

February 6, 2018 Water Protectors Legal Collective, Nativenewsonline.net , , ,
MANDAN, NORTH DAKOTA – On Thursday February 8, Michael Giron will appear in federal court in Bismarck for a change of plea hearing as per the terms of a non-cooperating agreement with prosecutors. Mr. Giron, who is known as Little Feather, was charged with Civil Disorder and Use of Fire to Commit a Federal Felony Offense, arising from events of October 27, 2016. Under this plea agreement, the Use of Fire charge – which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and the possibility of up to 15 years in prison – will be dropped entirely, and Little Feather will take responsibility for aiding a civil disorder. Subject to the acceptance of the plea agreement by Judge Daniel Hovland, who is presiding over the case, prosecutors and the defense will jointly recommend a sentence of 36 months on the Civil Disorder charge, although the judge does have the authority to go as high as five years.

Native American Activist Followed Mother’s Footsteps To Standing Rock.

February 3, 2018 By Will Parrish, Theintercept.com , ,
AFTER SPENDING A YEAR in jail awaiting trial, Oglala Lakota Sioux activist Red Fawn Fallis pleaded guilty last week to two federal felonies related to her arrest while protesting the Dakota Access pipeline. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the most serious charge against her, which would have carried a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence with the possibility of life imprisonment. Fallis was arrested on October 27, 2016, during a large-scale law enforcement operation to evict pipeline opponents from a camp alongside North Dakota Highway 1806. After officers tackled Fallis and pinned her on the ground facedown, they allege that she fired three shots from a revolver underneath her stomach, which did not result in any injuries. Last month, The Intercept revealed that the gun in question belonged to a paid FBI informant who was in a romantic relationship with Fallis.

Infiltration And Intense Law Enforcement At Standing Rock Camp

December 13, 2017 Will Parrish, theintercept.com , , , ,
AS LAW ENFORCEMENT officers advanced in a U-shaped sweep line down North Dakota Highway 1806 last October, pushing back Dakota Access opponents from a camp in the pipeline’s path, two sheriff’s deputies broke formation to tackle a 37-year-old Oglala Sioux woman named Red Fawn Fallis. As Fallis struggled under the weight of her arresting officers, who were attempting to put her in handcuffs, three gunshots allegedly went off alongside her. According to the arrest affidavit, deputies lunged toward her left hand and wrested a gun away from her. Well before that moment, Fallis had been caught in a sprawling intelligence operation that sought to disrupt and discredit opponents of the pipeline.

Ousted Standing Rock Leader On Pipeline Protest That Almost Succeeded

November 14, 2017 Phil McKenna, insideclimatenews.org , ,
By Phil McKenna for Inside Climate News - Dave Archambault II led the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe through an emotional year and a half as the tribe and its supporters nearly stopped the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Almost a year ago, they were celebrating after persuading President Barack Obama to effectively shelve the construction plan. Yet, today, the pipeline carries crude oil beneath the Missouri River, just upstream from the Standing Rock reservation. For a while, it looked like Standing Rock would achieve the impossible. The tribe's opposition drew thousands to what was arguably the largest demonstration of tribal sovereignty and call for environmental justice in history as Archambault, the tribal chairman, pleaded his case before members of Congress and the United Nations. In early December, the Obama administration called for a more thorough environmental review that would take years to complete. The review was never carried out. President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for work on the pipeline to be expedited soon after his January inauguration. Archambault was vilified by members of his tribe who suffered economic fallout from the protests on a reservation already plagued by poverty. When the chairman urged the protesters to go home, they accused Archambault of selling out. In September, Archambault lost his bid for re-election to an opponent who said it was time to move on.

A Victory For Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

October 22, 2017 Staff, www.theindigenousamericans.com , , ,
By The Indigenous Americans. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a significant victory today in its fight to protect the Tribe’s drinking water and ancestral lands from the Dakota Access pipeline. A federal judge ruled that the federal permits authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, which were hastily issued by the Trump administration just days after the inauguration, violated the law in certain critical respects. In a 91-page decision, Judge James Boasberg wrote, “the Court agrees that [the Corps] did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial.”

Act Out! Hitler Day, Columbus Day And More

October 13, 2017 Eleanor Goldfield, www.occupy.com , , ,
By Eleanor Goldfield for Occupy.com. This week on Act Out!, why Indigenous People's Day matters: Decolonizing the mind, the power of language, ideas and shifting paradigms. Next up, there's an epidemic of horrendous proportions in this country – and yet you may not have heard about it. We talk about the recently introduced Savanna's Act and raising awareness for stolen sisters. Finally, we sit down again with Mohawk film maker Paulette Moore. Kahsto'sera'a Paulette Moore is a Kanien'kehaka (Mohawk) filmmaker and educator currently collaborating with Free Speech TV to complete a series of films about the 2016/17 Standing Rock water protection actions. Her focus is to decolonize and Indigenize media arts in the context of Indigenous response to environmental extraction.

Standing Rock Spawned A Generation Of Water Protectors

August 14, 2017 Joseph Bullington, www.inthesetimes.com , , , ,
By Joseph Bullington for In These Times - BISMARCK, N.D.—Forty miles north of where the Standing Rock resistance camps once stood, Matt Lone Bear and Carter Gunderson crouch on the curb, changing the brakes on a Chevy Blazer. As they wrestle a worn rotor off the axle, they discuss their plans. They’ll stick around until their court dates later in June, then hit the road for a tour of the Standing Rock diaspora—camps that have sprung up across the country to oppose fossil fuel projects, living on after the battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). To the east, in Huntingdon County, Penn., the Gerhart family and their supporters have formed Camp White Pine on family property, which lies in the path of the Mariner East 2 natural gas pipeline. The pipeline’s owner, Energy Transfer Partners—the same company behind DAPL—hasinvoked eminent domain to cross the property, but construction faces resistance in the form of tree sits and other direct actions. Farther east, in Mahwah, N.J., the Native-led Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp stands in the way of the Pilgrim pipeline. The camp’s Facebook page declares “solidarity with Standing Rock & all who resist the black snake worldwide.”

Victory For Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

June 16, 2017 Jan Hasselman and Phillip Ellis, www.earthjustice.org , , ,
By Jan Hasselman and Phillip Ellis for Earth Justice - The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a significant victory today in its fight to protect the Tribe’s drinking water and ancestral lands from the Dakota Access pipeline. A federal judge ruled that the federal permits authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, which were hastily issued by the Trump administration just days after the inauguration, violated the law in certain critical respects. In a 91-page decision, Judge James Boasberg wrote, “the Court agrees that [the Corps] did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial.” The Court did not determine whether pipeline operations should be shut off and has requested additional briefing on the subject and a status conference next week. “This is a major victory for the Tribe and we commend the courts for upholding the law and doing the right thing,” said Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II in a recent statement. “The previous administration painstakingly considered the impacts of this pipeline...

Dakota Pipeline Is Ready for Oil, Without Spill Response Plan For Standing Rock

May 12, 2017 Phil Mckenna, www.insideclimatenews.org , , ,
By Phil Mckenna for Inside Climate News - Without a complete emergency plan or equipment, a spill at the Missouri River crossing could cause tremendous damage to the environment and the tribe's water. Oil is set to flow through the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, but there is still no oil spill response plan in place for the section of pipe that crosses the Missouri River just upstream from the Standing Rock reservation. The company won't be required to have emergency response cleanup equipment stored near the river crossing for another year, either. The lack of rigorous safety measures for the crude oil pipeline is raising concerns from lawyers and pipeline consultants for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose protests and legal fight against the Dakota Access pipeline became a flashpoint for environmental justice and indigenous rights last year. Despite the prolonged resistance, the pipeline is scheduled to begin operating on June 1 after President Donald Trump issued an order expediting its approval. Dakota Access LLC, the company building the pipeline, is required by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to submit a general emergency plan for the entire half-million-barrel-a-day project before oil shipments begin.
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