Yes, Trump has green-lighted the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Workers had to excavate sections of the affected pipeline to find and repair the leak. The Native American Rights Fund represents the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community in this case. The projects corporate backerthe Canadian energy infrastructure company TC Energyofficially abandoned the project in June 2021 following President Joe Bidens denial of a key permit on his first day in office. January: Obama rejects the Keystone Pipeline, saying the December bill did not allow enough time to review the new route. "The Keystone XL Pipeline is an environmental crime in progress." "It's also been called the most destructive project on the planet." The major issues with the Keystone XL Pipeline are "the dirty tar sands oil, the water waste, indigenous populations, refining tar sands oil and don't forget the inevitable; pipeline spills." NARF will help the Tribe make sure it has considered all of its options for ensuring the safety of the Tribes citizens, territory, and resources., This is their land, their water, said NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth. And these exports are more than 10 times the capacity of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The federal government has a treaty obligation to protect tribal citizens likely to suffer increased rates of violence and abuse. Like the US Constitution, treaties are the law of the land, and no one is above that law, said NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Campbell. Good Luck Persuading These Nebraskans, The Dirty Fight Over Canadian Tar Sands Oil, 10 Threats from the Canadian Tar Sands Industry, The Dakota Access Pipeline Fight Fuels Battles Across the Country, Still No Approved Route for KXL in Nebraska, Meet Jane Kleeb: One of Nebraskas First and Fiercest KXL Opponents, Why We Must Stop the Flow of Tar Sands Oil, Win! On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline Project. Some three million miles of oil and gas pipelines already run through our country, but KXL wasnt your average pipeline, and tar sands oil isnt your average crude. Phase 2 and 3 did not require Presidential Permits and were built over several years starting in 2010. March: The U.S. Department of State issues a Presidential Permit authorizing Keystone facilities at the U.S.-Canada border. August: The State Department releases its final environmental assessment that the pipeline would have a limited environmental impact. These sands contain bitumen, a gooey type of petroleum that can be converted into fuel. In 2015, when the Keystone XL pipeline was being debated, numerous Native American tribes and the Indigenous Environmental Network organized against it. On November 17, 2020, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, represented by the Native American Rights Fund and co-counsel, filed a federal lawsuit against the United States Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over their issuing of the KXL permit. The United States formally agreed, among other things, to keep outsiders off Sioux and other tribal nations territory and protect tribal natural resources. The United States must answer to the Tribes for violations of the treaties and be instructed to honor them. When the Obama administration refused to grant the cross-border permit necessary to build TC Energys Keystone XL oil pipeline in November 2015, it struck a blow against polluting powers and acknowledged the consensus on this misguided project from a wide swath of communities, experts, and organizations. In addition to extensive violations of law outlined in the original complaint, the new complaint raises the following issues: Maps released by TransCanada show the pipeline corridor and access roads crossing Rosebud territory, some of which is held in trust, as well as Rosebuds Mni Wiconi Water system. Leading climate scientist and former NASA researcher James Hansen has warned that fully exploiting Canadas tar sands reserves by moving forward with these projects would mean game over for our climate. The one filed by Rosebud Sioux last week cites the fact that the Trump Administration has not undertaken any analysis of: trust obligations, the potential impact on tribal hunting and fishing rights, the potential impacts on the Rosebud Sioux Tribes unique water system, the potential impact of spills on tribal citizens, or the potential impact on cultural sites in the path of the pipeline. A spill would have been devastating to the farms, ranches, and communities that depend on these crucial ecosystems. By the time President Biden took office in 2021, ready to fulfill his campaign promise to revoke the cross-border permit, the dirty energy pipeline had become one of the foremost climate controversies of our time. For those of you that will not be able to attend, I ask that you submit a letter about your concerns and in support of our lawsuit. Fort Belknap has declared a state of emergency on the reservation because of the extremely dangerous COVID-19 pandemic and its threat to the health and well-being of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribal members, said President Werk of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, We are very concerned about TransCanada bringing in outside construction workers from all over to build this pipeline within an hour from our reservation., Rosebud has issued a curfew, closed businesses, and asked all to shelter in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As much as they would like to, TransCanada cannot ignore the laws that protect Native American people and lands.. The US did not adequately review the pipelines proposed route and whether it crosses tribal territory. Early in his presidency, President Trump made it a priority to issue permits for the questionable KXL project without the required tribal consultation, environmental review, or consideration for treaty rights. We hope the Keystone XL Map will add a visual resource that supports the education and advocacy efforts of social movements working for Indigenous sovereignty and a just transition to renewable energy.. WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump greenlighted the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, declaring it a "great day for American jobs" and siding with energy advocates over environmental groups in a heated debate over climate change. The obligation of the United States to uphold those treaties is paramount, and Keystone XLs current path cannot be approved without the Siangu Lakotas consent. Although, the pipelines proposed path crosses the plaintiff tribes homelands, the tribes have not been consulted as required by law and DOI policy. Because it crosses the U.S.-Canada border, Phase 4 does require a Presidential Permit; however, it has been met with opposition since its initial proposal. This pipeline was proposed in 2008 and has been referred to as either the Keystone XL pipeline or KXL. UAB is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and family-friendly environment in which all faculty and staff can excel and achieve work/life balance irrespective of race, national origin, age, genetic or family medical history, gender, faith, gender identity and expression as well as sexual orientation. One such protest, a historic act of civil disobedience outside the White House in August 2011, resulted in the arrest of more than 1,200 demonstrators. The company behind the controversial Keystone XL project that President Joe Biden effectively killed on his first day of office had an oil spill record "worse than the national average" over a. The first, a southern leg, had already been completed and now runs between Cushing, Oklahoma, and Port Arthur, Texas. But Nebraskas got a slew of public hearings on the calendar, and legal challenges loom large. When TC Energy said the pipeline would create nearly 119,000 jobs, a State Department report instead concluded the project would require fewer than 2,000 two-year construction jobs and that the number of full-time, permanent jobs would hover around 35 after construction. NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Campbell responded to the action, The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community have both poured tremendous effort and resources to defend their treaty rights and the safety of their tribal communities during the last few years. It runs from Hardisty, Alberta, to Patoka, Illinois. President Bidens action today is an important first step in correcting the callous disregard for tribal sovereignty that has flourished in recent years. Among other things, the complaint describes: NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Campbell explained, Before we allow a foreign company to build another pipeline to haul dirty tar sands across any American soil, we should be taking a hard look at the possible impact on American land, water, health, and safety. In issuing the Keystone XL permit with shoddy and superficial analysis, the federal government not only didnt do its job, it did not follow the law.. While TransCanada replaced topsoil and reseeded the area affected by the spill, it will take decades for the lasting damage of the spill to be known and remedied. Read the memo in support of preliminary injunction. These activities could cause irreparable harm to tribal waterways, cultural resources, and minerals in the path of the pipelines easement. March: Canadas National Energy Board approves the Canadian section of the Keystone XL. The cost is too high. Share. November: TransCanada says the costs of Keystone XL have grown to US$8 billion from US$5.4 billion. The State Department provided no explanation in the 2017 decision for its contradictory factual finding; instead, it simply disregarded its previous factual findings and replaced them with a new one. The Keystone XL pipeline was proposed by the energy infrastructure company TC Energy. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes) along with their counsel, the Native American Rights Fund, applaud the Biden administrations action to revoke the illegally issued KXL permit. When industry-friendly politicians took charge of both congressional houses in January 2015, their first order of business was to pass a bill to speed up approval of Keystone XL. This means an extra 178.3 million metric tons of greenhouse gas would be emitted annually, a similar impact to 38.5 million cars. Many indigenous populations have fought for over a decade to defend their water and land rights against fossil fuel companies. (AP) The Trump administration on Wednesday approved a right-of-way allowing the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline to be built across U.S. land, pushing the controversial $8 . But activists say the water protector strategy has proven effective with the cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline, designed to run from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska, had faced opposition from environmental groups, land use groups and Native American tribal entities for years. Upon entering office, President Trumpwith his pro-polluter cabinet of fossil fuel advocates, billionaires, and bankersquickly demonstrated that his priorities differed. They have laws protecting their water and those laws must be respected. Elections turn control of the U.S. Congress over to Republicans, who pledge to move forward on Keystone XL. When that failedthanks to a lawsuit brought by NRDC and other groupsTrump reissued the cross-border permit himself. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta to refineries in Illinois and Texas, and also to oil tank farms and an oil pipeline distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma. Earlier this week, NARF filed a motion to intervene at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Indigenous Environmental Network v. U.S. Department of State case regarding the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. In short, tar sands oil represents no small threat to our environment, and our best stance against it, as the rallying cry goes, is to keep it in the ground.. update email soon. Listen to more voices from the community on the NARF YouTube channel. Watch President Bordeauxs full State of the Tribe address. This new permit is a blatant attempt to avoid any environmental analysis for the pipeline that United States law and courts have required. The land, water, tribal sovereignty, and governmental services were not given to us in those treaties, President Kindle said. President Bidens executive order ending the construction of the Keystone XL is a very hopeful step forward, however it needs to serve as a pushing off point for the administration to continue furthering both environmental and indigenous rights. The Tribes are entitled to protect the health and welfare of their people and territory and to ensure that their treaties are upheld. TransCanada estimated South Dakota spills at no more than once every 41 years. TransCanada agreed to abide by tribal law. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. The proposed Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline would cross Nebraska, Montana, and South Dakota, including tribal lands. In late 2018 and early 2019, the courts repeatedly blocked TransCanadas attempts to start construction on the Keystone XL pipeline. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Boulder, CO (303) 447-8760 In the meantime, the court issued an injunction pursuant to the Clean Water Act in another case that prevents TransCanada from crossing any rivers. The XL stands for export limited. If completed, KXL would add another 510,000 barrels of capacity. Today, the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls Division, heard arguments in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump. NRDC.org stories are available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as time and place elements, style, and grammar); you cant resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you cant republish our material wholesale or automaticallyyou need to select stories individually; you can't republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us know when youve used one of our stories. Obviously, that is not the case. TransCanada's plan to dig a trench and bury part of its $7 billion, 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline right through this land has unearthed a host of Native American opposition, resentments and ghosts of the past. The climate impact of a complete and fully operational Keystone XL would be drastic. On March 23, 2017, the U.S. Department of State granted TransCanadas permit application and issued it a presidential permit to construct and operate the Keystone XL Pipeline. This pipeline transports 470,000 barrels of crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois, over 1,172 miles. The reversal came as no surprise. This rate of toxic spills is much more frequent than TransCanada predicted and reported to the federal government. The construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline would strengthen the United States economy, provide energy security and have minimal environmental impact. The total for the Keystone pipeline's 2017 gush onto. The market case had also deteriorated. January: ConocoPhillips acquires a 50% stake in the project. See the related statement from Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Bordeaux. In that case, brought by a coalition of environmental organizations, the District Court had decided that the federal government did not follow the law when it issued its 2017 permit for the pipeline. When they entered into treaties with the United States, the tribal nations meant to protect their natural resources (water, grasslands, and game) and keep people from crossing their lands. This decision reversed two previous administrative decisions and was done without any public comment or environmental analysis. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community successfully stood strong for years to protect their people, water, and sacred lands from the threat of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Its a threat to our climate, our drinking water, and our safety. The Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline is the proposed Phase 4 of the Keystone Pipeline system, which already is online with a capacity to carry more than 500,000 barrels per day. We are joined in a fight against an invisible enemy that we now know is highly contagious before its hosts even show symptoms, said President Bordeaux of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Based on these extraordinary circumstances, we ask that TransCanada halt any construction during this pandemic.. March: The Trump White House exempts the Keystone Pipeline from the requirement to use U.S. steel. Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney M. Bordeaux spoke to the KXL issue, In approving the Keystone XL pipeline, the federal government repeatedly ignored treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, and widespread opposition to push forward the interests of a foreign oil and gas company. The Keystone XL Developer's Position TransCanada, a Canadian corporation, owns or has interests in $48 billion of long-life assets primarily pipelines and power-generation facilities in Canada, the United States and Mexico and is expected to see $38 billion in new projects completed by the end of this decade 18. 6210 Bristol Pkwy. How an unlikely coalition of environmental activists stopped the destructive tar sands oil pipeline. The lands, water, and promises made in those treaties were paid for, literally, with the blood of our ancestors and relatives. Of course, they can then use this ongoing construction as justification for allowing the project to proceed whether or not the project is legal. A study published in early 2020, co-authored by TC Energys own scientists, found that the anti-corrosion coating on the projects pipes was damaged from being stored outside and exposed to the elements for the last decade, notes NRDC senior attorney Jaclyn Prange, who spent years working on KXL litigation. How a single pipeline project became the epicenter of an enormous environmental, public health, and civil rights battle. There are countless historical, cultural, and religious sites in the planned path of the pipeline that are at risk of destruction, both by the pipelines construction and by the threat of inevitable ruptures and spills if the pipeline becomes operational. Snaking its way from Alberta to Nebraska, the pipeline would cross the United States-Canada border in Philips County, Montana, directly adjacent to Blaine County and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Obama says TransCanada is free to submit another application. Though she lives on the Yankton Sioux Reservation of South Dakota, Spotted . So this is a complete win for the tribes on the motions to dismiss. The promises made to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, as well as the Oceti Sakowin, were broken before the ink on Fort Laramie treaties dried. You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and Paramount Network just released a new mini-documentary entitled Take Action: Protect Our Land. The documentary explores the potential impact of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline on our client, the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana. But Keystone XL . It is the largest underground water source in the United States. Last month, the Keystone base pipeline spilled in Missouri; while the spill was caught early and a small amount of crude was lost, the fact that it spilled speaks volumes to the safety of such projects going forward. Refining the sticky black gunk produces piles of petroleum coke, a hazardous, coal-like by-product. The pipelines proposed route crosses through traditional Lakota homelands and treaty territories, and will affect not only the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, but also Native Nations in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Like that of the United States, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe also has laws that require us to ensure that any company seeking to build a pipeline in our territory must obtain our consent. April: TransCanada submits a new route to officials in Nebraska for approval. TransCanada failed to comply with Rosebud and Fort Belknap law. By that point, Keystone XL faced an unfriendly administration, numerous legal challenges, declining oil prices, worsening climate impacts, and a growing movement of climate organizersalong the pipelines route and around the worldunwilling to look the other way. It would increase mining by accelerating the production and transportation of crude oil. Historic flooding recently inundated parts of the Cornhusker State where the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would pass through. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares . For over a decade, Indigenous nations and communities have continuously denied consent to the KXL pipeline from crossing their territories, citing environmental concerns, the desecration of sacred sites, treaty rights violations, and the risks of sexual violence connected with man camps. If the Presidents goal was to avoid complying with the District Courts decision in that case, it worked. Low oil prices and increasing public concern over the climate led Shell, Exxon, Equinor (then Statoil), and Total to either sell their tar sands assets or whittle them down. The 2019 pipeline approval violates both of these provisions. One of the central arguments made by pipeline pushers was that tar sands expansion will move forward with or without Keystone XL. So, in March he withdrew the State Departments permit and issued his own presidential permit as an attempt to avoid any environmental or regulatory oversight and to circumvent the court decisions. Less than two years before the project was finally pulled, the Keystone tar sands pipeline was temporarily shut down after a spill in North Dakota of reportedly more than 378,000 gallons in late October 2019. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will take any and all necessary steps, up to and including litigation, to protect our people, our land and water, and our cultural and historic resources., As we have seen, spills from such projects can be catastrophic, said NARF Staff Attorney Matt Campbell. At the hearings, the US government argued that the treaties that the United States signed with tribal nations are not relevant to the Keystone pipeline. We would score a victory, and it would have huge ramifications for holding off construction at critical times, says NRDC attorney Cecilia Segal, who has worked on KXL litigation since 2017. Farm to Table: The Worlds Largest Protest in India, 2023 The University of Alabama at Birmingham. In granting a permit for the pipeline, the President has ignored his obligation to protect the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in direct violation of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868, ignored federal right of way and mineral statutes, and ignored basic principles of federal Indian law. In 2017, the US State Department released a study which proved that carbon emissions could be between 5 and 20 percent higher than the original 17 percent estimation. The goal was to transport 830,000 barrels of crude, tar sand oil to refineries on the American Gulf Coast each day. This lines up with an industry trend: Oil and gas companies are exporting 8.4 million barrels of crude oil and refined fuels every single day. The protests were primarily peaceful, with camps and prayer circles set up on the land where construction was to take place. It has willfully ignored the pipelines impacts on tribal communities. NARF has two important updates regarding our defense of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community against the Keystone XL pipeline. The tribes filed a response to TransCanadas motion for summary judgment and a memorandum in support of their own motion for partial summary judgment. Of course, TransCanada claims that KXL will be safe, that it will be state of the art. As the elected President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, I write regarding a critical issue affecting not only our Tribe, but all of the United States. All facets of the tar sands industry pose a threat to the environment. President Bordeaux had this to say about the KXL pipeline: There are a great many things that trouble us about this project. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. TransCanada's plan to dig a trench and bury part of its $7 billion, 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline right through this land has unearthed a host of Native American opposition, resentments. Its time to accelerate our transition to the clean energy sources that will power a prosperous future.. It connects Steele City, Nebraska, to Cushing, Oklahoma. The Keystone XL Pipeline Is Dead, but TC Energy Still Owns Hundreds of Miles of Rights of Way Many landowners who opposed the pipeline have begun a new fight, trying to regain control of the land . Between the threat of sexual violence and contraction of the coronoavirus, arrival of KXL construction workers in our homelands poses deadlier risks than ever before and must be stopped. Complicating matters, leaks can be difficult to detect. The pipeline faced more than a decade of sustained protests from environmental activists and organizations; Indigenous communities; religious leaders; and the farmers, ranchers, and business owners along its proposed route. Additionally, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe operates its own water delivery system, which is part of the Mni Wiconi Rural Water Supply Project. It was a blatant attempt to prioritize corporate interests over the health and well-being of the regions citizens and tribes authority to govern their lands and protect their citizens. With the original permit revoked, the Ninth Circuit yesterday decided to dismiss as moot the case based on that original permit. June 25, 2020 (Bemidji, MN) - The Indigenous Environmental Network, in collaboration with the Climate Alliance Mapping Project and the Keystone XL Mapping Project, have just launched the KXL Pipeline Map, an interactive tool that highlights the route of the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline, a tar sands project of the TC Energy corporation.This map is a free and public tool designed to support . a new mini-documentary entitled Take Action: Protect Our Land., their response to the defendants motions to dismiss. The court rightly found that today.. Finally, massive fossil fuel infrastructure investments like KXL undermine efforts to minimize global warming and prioritize clean energy like wind and solar. On November 17, 2020, the Tribes filed a federal lawsuit against the United States Department of Interior and the BLM over their January 2020 issuing of the KXL permit. The court also noted that the Tribes could file a new suit against the Bureau of Land Management given it has approved the pipeline in the remainder of the United States. The pipeline is certain to leak (it already has). It was proposed to be an extension of the existing Keystone Pipeline System, which has been in operation since 2010. February: TransCanada Corporation proposes the Keystone Pipeline project. President Trumps attempt to circumvent the judicial branch is extremely troubling because he has elevated the profits of a foreign corporation above the will of the American people and the laws of the United States. On Friday, December 20, 2019, NARF and their clients, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (the Tribes) received some great news from a Montana court. The water has been there to support the people on their ancestral lands since time immemorial. These lands are well within the area of impact for even a small rupture and spill. Rather than honoring these legal obligations, the United States has chosen to blatantly violate them. The Keystone XL pipeline would cross the United States border into Montana, then cut through the Great Sioux Reservation, as set forth in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, in South Dakota and finally Nebraska to Steele City where the crude would mix with US crude reserves and continue to Texas for export.
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