A historic event is happening in North Dakota where indigenous peoples from across the country are standing together, along with thousands of allies, to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The pipeline threatens the sole drinking water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, as well as traditional burial sites and lands of significant cultural and historic value. Although federal officials temporarily stopped work, no resolution was identified and work on the pipeline has resumed.
Alaska tribes are sadly familiar with the price paid by indigenous peoples when entities whose sole motivation is profit and self-interest invade traditional lands in their quest for natural resources. Tribes throughout the Yukon Watershed are still dealing with the after effects of abandoned placer mines, lands and waters tainted with petroleum products, abandoned drums filled with unknown contaminants, and developments that threaten subsistence resources.
We stand with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and with all indigenous peoples and allies who have joined together in peaceful, nonviolent protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
We believe that the federal government approval of permits lacked genuine consultation with the tribe and a clear understanding of the implications of this project. The pipeline development threatens to undermine the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Tribes have a right to expect that the federal government will honor its trust responsibilities guaranteed in the 1851 and 1868 United States treaties with the tribes, which remain the supreme law of the land.
We join the growing chorus of indigenous peoples in calling for a full halt to all construction activities and repeal of all U.S. Army Corps of Engineer permits until formal tribal consultation and environmental review are properly and adequately conducted.
Clarence Alexander, chairman
Kelly Donnelly, executive director
Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council