To: Hillary Clinton, Democratic Candidate for President of the United States
Hillary Clinton, Stand with Standing Rock Sioux Against the Dakota Access Pipeline!
Oppose the Dakota Access Bakken Pipeline project, which threatens the sacred lands and clean water of the Standing Rock Sioux.
Why is this important?
Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota have been protesting construction of the Dakota Access pipeline since April. The pipeline, also known as the Bakken Pipeline, will carry fracked crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shalefields through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois and then to Texas and Louisiana. In other words, it’s Keystone XL all over again.
The planned pipeline threatens to pollute tribal waters and crosses land sacred to tribes, so the Standing Rock Tribe have been gathering at the site where it burrows under the Missouri River — and now the construction company is working with state and local officials to keep the pipeline moving forward.
Secretary Hillary Clinton has refused to take a stand on the pipeline. On the one hand, she has pledged to honor tribal sovereignty and re-open the doors of the White House to Native Americans.
On the other hand, she has put forth energy and climate policy that calls for "responsible" investments in new oil and gas pipelines and an "energy system that crosses borders."
If we are to have any hope at all of staving off climate catastrophe, we need to halt the fracking of North Dakota’s oil shalefields—not build export pipelines that would allow the Bakken oil boom to increase. Halting the Dakota Access pipeline is critical to keeping the Bakken crude in the ground.
Protests began in April, but they’ve picked up pace after the Army Corps of Engineers issued a questionable permit for the pipeline to cross the Missouri River, the source of the Standing Rock Sioux’s drinking water. Construction began on that segment on August 10, when the Standing Rock set up a peaceful encampment that put a halt to the work. Now local and state police are attacking and arresting the water protectors.
Secretary Clinton, it’s time to take a stand. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux have asked you to oppose the pipeline. Stand with the tribes, and for a livable climate for all.