STANDING WITH STANDING ROCK - Protest on December 5th.

STANDING WITH STANDING ROCK
By Thom Palmer
November 28, 2016

Below you'll find an hour long audio file of the Tribal Meeting of September 30, 2014. In the meeting, pipeline representatives attempt to present the project in a positive light, followed by the rebuttals and concerns of the tribe and citizens, all of which are valid reasons to stop the project. Since it's a long audio file, you can listen in chunks when you have a few minutes. It's a real eye-opener for those of us who have been disconnected from this pending disaster, and another assault on the Sioux by corporate greed.

I believe we need to organize and join the Sioux in their fight to remain on federal lands, and to support their efforts through larger participation in their protests at Standing Rock.

If you are currently involved in the protest, or know of any protests being organized, please contact me or post information. Thanks.

ON DECEMBER 5th, 2016, the Sioux will be challenged to leave their protest area or face prosecution. I'm thinking that if we all show up, this intimidation tactic by North Dakota law enforcement will flip in favor of the Sioux of Standing Rock.

UPDATE: Army Corp of Engineers is planning on shutting down the access to the current protest staging area on the 5th of December. Military Veterans are planning to show up in support of the Sioux on the 4th so that they're not shut out. CHECK BACK FOR MORE UPDATES.

The Sioux are embattled in a another war of sorts with the United States government, and WE need to side with them this time. When the U.S. Calvalry conquered the Sioux Nation back in the late 1800's, the United States agreed to never invade or harm sovereign tribal land, burial grounds and ancient artifacts. Now, for oil profits, their land and life giving waterways are at risk of being destroyed, polluted by leaky oil pipilines being run across the rivers that feed their population.

MAKE NO MISTAKE ... THIS IS AN OIL WAR IN THE MAKING. There is a difference between Native Americans occupying federal lands to protest and the Bundy standoff in Oregon in 2014, where the Bundy clan, white nationalists, armed and dangerous were given a pass from the United States government, all being aquitted of all charges.  The difference being that the protests in North Dakota are being done peacefully, yet for almighty oil industry profits and the exploitation of federal land for profit, the Army Corps of Engineers is giving them until December 5th to vacate the protest area on federal land, and move to an area back into Reservation territory. Failure to do so could be cause for arrest and prosecution. This is nothing more than an intimidation tactic, using law enforcement to quash a legal and important attempt at stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline from being constructed through the Missouri and several other rivers which give life to the Sioux.

This is also a precursor to a final assault by the oil industry and congressional Republicans to approve and build the Keystone XL Pipeline. Very simply they are planning on running many more pipelines throughout the United States, converting gas pipelines to oil pipelines, and building more, which are guaranteed to leak into rivers and streams, and harming tribal lands throughout the mid-west and south on their way to south Texas.

September 20, 2014 Meeting Audio. Sioux Tribal Council Meeting with DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) representatives.  Note: The DAPL representative claims a small number of added jobs once the pipeline is completed, however, he makes no mention of the trucking and shipping jobs that will be lost in the event of pipeline completion and implementation.

Dakota Access Pipeline Project is owned by....
Energy Transfer Equity Dallas,Tx own general partnership of other entities
Energy Transfer Partners, San Antonio owns pipeline.
Regency Energy Partners, Dallas TX
Sunoco, Pennsylvania

There are currently71,000 miles of pipeline between all the entities currently

WHAT IS THE DAKOTA ACCESS OIL PIPELINE
The 1,172 mile long oil pipeline, if implemented, will run crude oil from northwest North Dakota down through South Dakota, through Iowa and then into Illinois, where it will then connect to an existing natural gas line which will be converted to crude oil. The oil will then run to the Texas oil refineries near the Gulf of Mexico for refinement and inevitably be exported for oil profits.

DAKOTA PIPELINE AND "GATHERING POINTS"
There will be 346 miles of pipeline from 12" to 30" diameter. Johnsons corner is last gathering point which will run oil at a diagonal south-east to illinios. 346 miles in North Dakota and 267 in South Dakota, and then down through several states to the Gulf of Mexico.

There will be gathering facilities (pumping stations and tank farms) in North Dakota, one near Stanley, one near Tioga, one near Epping, one near Trenton, one near Watford City and one near Johnson's Corner.

There are binding commitments from shippers for 320,000 barrels per day of crude oil, all of which will be produced in North Dakota, currently being moved primarily by rail. This pipeline will give producers an alternative means of moving product. Builders claim that it will be more energy efficient and a safer way to transport crude oil long distances.  346 miles starting in Montrail County, through Williams, McKenzie, Dunn, Mercer, Morton and Emmens County.

Total cost of the project is 3.74 billion dollars. North Dakota would be just over a billion dollars, and approximately a billion in South Dakota. Construction jobs for building the pipeline and gathering stations would be between 8-12 thousand (North Dakota 2-4 thousand and South Dakota 2-4 thousand). Overall there will be only 40 full time jobs created, including just 10-15 in North Dakota and 10-15 in South Dakota. Have not finalized where operating offices will be as of yet.

Builders claim to have done a lot of routing work to avoid environmentally sensitive areas, known cultural artifact areas, federal lands, tribal lands. We have avoided the existing tribal boundary property.  2500 feet is the closest the pipeline actually comes to tribal boundary, but the expected oil leaks travel through sovereign territory.

THE SIOUX ARGUMENT AGAINST
READ THE OFFICIAL COMPLAINT against the Army Corp of Engineers following their approval and granting of permits to proceed with the pipeline. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2016/images/08/31/north.dakota.pdf


THE EFFECTS OF CONVERTING A GAS PIPELINE IN ILLINOIS TO AN OIL PIPELINE
States which will be adversely affected are being silent about Standing Rock. They too will be experiencing drastic environmental disasters as a result of the transfer. There is no way to avoid oil spills. Recent study on the XL Pipeline show that spills are regular and unable to be avoided. Therefore, we can consider the following states at risk of great environmental damage as well as health risks to their population.

Affected States
North Dakota
South Dakota
Iowa
Illinois
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Texas