harm to the political integrity, economic stability, and health and welfare of the Tribes. The United States formally agreed, among other things, to keep outsiders off Sioux and other tribal nations territory and protect tribal natural resources. Some of the current concerns are rooted in our responsibility to take care of Unci Maka, which is grandmother earth. The briefest look at American and Canadian history clearly shows that the pipeline situations are most certainly not the first instance of the government refusing to respect the lands, waters, and even peoples of indigenous groups. March: The Trump White House exempts the Keystone Pipeline from the requirement to use U.S. steel. The federal government must examine potential impacts on the safety and welfare of Native peopleespecially women and children. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has retained the NARF to represent its interests with regard to the Keystone XL pipeline. President Bidens executive order was a landmark achievement and a sigh of relief for indigenous and environmental activists alike. 6210 Bristol Pkwy Culver City CA 90230-6924. The pipeline would have stretched 1,179 . (Indeed, Keystone XL was viewed as an essential ingredient in the oil industrys plans to triple tar sands production by 2030. (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 . January: The Nebraska Supreme Court narrowly strikes down the lower-court decision, ruling that the governors actions were constitutional. TransCanada estimated South Dakota spills at no more than once every 41 years. TransCanada has begun construction of the Keystone XL pipeline near the Rosebud Reservation, just a week after the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes) sued the Trump Administration for its illegal approval of the pipeline. Those leaks will be undetected unless/until they are huge. keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. 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. 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. June-July: Increased opposition to Keystone XL includes legislators and scientists speaking out against the project; the Environmental Protection Agency questions the need for the pipeline extension. Frighteningly, the KXL pipeline design would only detect 13,000 barrels (535,000 gallons) of tar sands crude leaked in a 24-hour period. 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. It connects Steele City, Nebraska, to Cushing, Oklahoma. On June 6, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a case that sought to revoke the permit for TC Energys (TransCanada) Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline. With President Trumps illegal permit revoked, the Tribes plan to continue their efforts to ensure that TransCanada, and its proposed Keystone XL project, follows all applicable laws that are in place to protect tribal people and ancestral lands. November: TransCanada says the costs of Keystone XL have grown to US$8 billion from US$5.4 billion. On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, TransCanada (TC Energy) announced that it is terminating its Keystone XL pipeline project. The reversal came as no surprise. Our Land Use, Environmental Protection, and Public Utilities Codes directly apply, and TC Energy has failed to comply with them. Trespassing into Rosebuds mineral estates, held in trust, without Rosebuds consent is a violation of the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties. Those treaties are binding to this day, and we expect them to be honored. And the risk that Keystone XL would have spilled was heightened because of the extended time the pipe segments were left sitting outside in stockpiles. February : The Keystone-Cushing Phase 2 of the pipeline goes online. 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. Its a pipeline through America, and it threatens to be a disaster for us if it leaks poisons on the way. Leading scientists and economists came out in opposition to the project, in addition to unions and world leaders such as the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former president Jimmy Carter (together, these and other Nobel laureates have written letters against the project). 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. Instead, despite the danger to tribal citizens and all of the people living in the area, TransCanada is pushing to quickly build as much of the pipeline as possible. 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. NARF has two important updates regarding our defense of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community against the Keystone XL pipeline. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares . Opposition emerges in Nebraska. September: The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, in coordination with their counsel, the Native American Rights Fund, on September 10, 2018, sued the Trump Administration in the U.S. District Court for the District of MT for numerous violations of the law in the Keystone XL pipeline permitting process. 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. The courts intervention is needed to protect the Tribes precious lands, water, natural, and cultural resources. The era of building fossil fuel pipelines without scrutiny of their potential impact on climate change and on local communities is over, Swift says. We have been mistreated in this process, and TC Energy has never sought or obtained our consent to build a pipeline in our territory, including on lands held in trust by the United States. The mineral estates qualify as Indian lands and the Tribe has jurisdiction over them. Since the approval, the Trump administration has been sued twice by environmental organizations and lost each time. January: Trump signs a presidential memorandum inviting TransCanada to resubmit their application for a Presidential Permit and directing the Secretary of State, Department of the Interior, and Department of the Army to fast-track the decision. While the tar sands industry was once seen as an unbeatable opponent in a David-and-Goliath fight, the victory against Keystone XL shows that the tables have begun to turnand that more power now lies with the advocates for climate justice than ever before. At every turn, the Tar Sands Invasion would put people and the environment in harm's way. But the groundswell of public protest was up against a formidable opponenthundreds of millions spent on lobbying by the fossil fuel industry. 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. It was first initiated in 2010, and Indigenous activists protested for a decade against its construction. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has been one of the most vocal groups in working to oppose the creation of the Dakota Access Pipeline. NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth said, We believe its imperative for the voices of our tribal clients to be heard regarding the impacts of the proposed pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline The controversial construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) gained national and international attention when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers accepted an application filed by Energy Transfer Partners, a Texas-based developer behind the project. In return, they asked that the United States protect their lands from trespass and their resources from destruction. The climate impact of a complete and fully operational Keystone XL would be drastic. When the Tribes negotiated their treaties, they gave millions of acres of land to the United Statesincluding, ironically, the land on which the courthouse now stands. In addition to the intervention, a hearing has been scheduled in Rosebud Sioux Tribe et al v. United States Department of State et al. 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. Dave Heineman approves the proposed route for Keystone XL, sending the project back to the State Department for review. Keystone XL Maps Map Terminated pipeline route The following map details the route of the terminated Keystone XL Pipeline and the current Keystone Pipeline System. In exchange for measures like safe passage of emigrants and peaceful construction of the railroads, the US government and tribal nations signed treaties to prevent intrusion on or destruction of tribal nations lands and natural resources. 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. In granting the right-of-way, the BLM failed to analyze and uphold the United States treaty obligations to protect the Tribes lands and natural resources. This rate of toxic spills is much more frequent than TransCanada predicted and reported to the federal government. BILLINGS, Mont. 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.. The 2019 supplemental environmental impact statement has numerous issues and shortcomings. 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 . November: The Obama administration rejects TransCanadas application to build the Keystone XL pipeline. Watch on Keystone XL 329 miles (529 km) in Canada (Hardisty, Alta., to Monchy, Sask.) If the Presidents goal was to avoid complying with the District Courts decision in that case, it worked. Heres everything you need to know about the historic KXL fightand why the pipelines cancellation has had no impact on current oil prices. It was expected to transport 830,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands oil per day to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. That spill, not far from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyates reservation, was the second Keystone spill in South Dakota in seven years. Phase 2 and 3 did not require Presidential Permits and were built over several years starting in 2010. How a single pipeline project became the epicenter of an enormous environmental, public health, and civil rights battle. Pipeline opponents file a lawsuit against the Nebraska government claiming the state law used to review the new route is unconstitutional. its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Jessica Ravitz, CNN. This is one of the reasons for the lawsuit. One was Nebraskas Ogallala Aquifer, which provides drinking water for millions as well as 30 percent of Americas irrigation water. The Rosebud Sioux Tribealso known as the Siangu Lakota Oyateis one of the seven tribes that make up the Oeti Sakowin (the Seven Council Fires of the Lakota people). Its no small feat extracting oil from tar sands, and doing so comes with steep environmental and economic costs. We will not dishonor our relatives and unnecessarily endanger our health, safety, and wellbeing. The agencies have not considered the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on either health and safety or the global oil markets. In 2017, the Trump administration reversed Obamas veto, signing an executive order to advance the Keystone pipeline as well as a similar crude oil project, the Dakota Access Pipeline despite the many valid arguments made against the two pipelines. It also endangers the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water for Native and non-Native users residential and agricultural needs on the High Plains in eight states. Pipeline representatives start visiting landowners potentially affected by Keystone XL. The presidential permit comes nearly a decade after Calgary-based TransCanada applied to . 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. The proposed Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline would cross Nebraska, Montana, and South Dakota, including tribal lands. May: TransCanada files a new application with the State Department for the northern part of Keystone XL. Watch President Bordeauxs full State of the Tribe address. Though she lives on the Yankton Sioux Reservation of South Dakota, Spotted . U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House on March 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. 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. April: The State Department suspends the regulatory process indefinitely, citing uncertainty about the court case in Nebraska. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes) in coordination with their counsel, the Native American Rights Fund, on September 10, 2018, sued the Trump Administration for numerous violations of the law in the Keystone XL pipeline permitting process. In fact, TransCanada outlined several activities scheduled for April all along the route of the pipeline, not just at the border. The Tribes are asking the court to put a short hold on construction until a hearing scheduled later this month. The market case had also deteriorated. In these filings, the Tribes highlight that TransCanada admitted that the Keystone XL pipeline would cross Rosebud mineral estates held in trust by the United States. The federal court denied the United States federal governments and the TransCanadas (TC Energy) efforts to dismiss the Tribes case against the KXL Pipeline. Over the years, the United States government willingly made very specific promises to tribal nations. a new mini-documentary entitled Take Action: Protect Our Land., their response to the defendants motions to dismiss. NARF is honored to represent the Rosebud Sioux and Fort Belknap Tribes to fully enforce the laws and fight this illegal pipeline.. August: The State Department releases its final environmental assessment that the pipeline would have a limited environmental impact. With the original permit revoked, the Ninth Circuit yesterday decided to dismiss as moot the case based on that original permit. The Native American Rights Fund and our clients will continue to fight to ensure our treaties are upheld and that the health and welfare of our people is protected. It also traverses land that Native. But immediately after taking office, President Donald Trump brought the zombie project back to life, along with the legal battles against it. In the meantime, the court issued an injunction pursuant to the Clean Water Act in another case that prevents TransCanada from crossing any rivers. September: Canadas National Energy Board approves the Canadian section. Pipeline under construction in Alberta, Canada. Phase 3b is added later, connecting the pipeline from Port Arthur to Houston, Texas. This is in violation of federal law.The United States is allowing TransCanada to begin construction even though there has been no review of our treaty rights, hunting and fishing rights, or the impacts to our people, our water, or our environment. Some people, seeing a map of the pipeline's proposed 875-mile route through the Great Plains, may picture the region in the terms of 19th-century explorers who called it the "great American desert . The goal was to transport 830,000 barrels of crude, tar sand oil to refineries on the American Gulf Coast each day. On October 16, 2020, the judge ruled against the Tribes on some claims, finding that the Presidents permit only applied to the border and not the entire pipeline. The pipeline, which had severe environmental and human rights implications, has been on a long road towards failure. The promises made to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, as well as the Oceti Sakowin, were broken before the ink on Fort Laramie treaties dried. President Trump did not like these decisions. We cannot allow another pipeline to be constructed, dangerously close to yet another tribal community, for the benefit of a foreign energy company.. A Peoples Orientation to a Regenerative Economy, Chief Theresa Spence and Attawapiskat First Nation file urgent action with UN committee, Indigenous Storytellers Ashley Fairbanks and Jennifer K. Falcon Launch New Podcast We Keep The Fire: Indigenous Climate Futures, Inyo County tribes, residents, and leaders welcome the news of an indefinite suspension of drilling activities at Conglomerate Mesa. The pipeline had been projected to carry oil nearly 1,200 miles (1,900km). President Trump also issued a cross-border permit to the pipeline developer, a permit that had been long sought after for the developers. The cost is too high. The Fort Belknap Indian Community and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, represented by the Native American Rights Fund, have separately sued TC Energy and President TrumpRosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump. 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. 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. Winning support in Indian country is one of the last hurdles for the project, which is touted as a key to North American energy . Of course, TransCanada claims that KXL will be safe, that it will be state of the art. A spill would have been devastating to the farms, ranches, and communities that depend on these crucial ecosystems. 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. For example, in 2020, Teck Resources withdrew its 10-year application to build the largest tar sands mine in history, citing growing concern surrounding climate change in global markets. But Keystone XL . The United States District Court for the District of Montana recently accepted an amended complaint in what will now be known as Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump (formerly Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. US Dept of State). President Bidens action today is an important first step in correcting the callous disregard for tribal sovereignty that has flourished in recent years. It would increase mining by accelerating the production and transportation of crude oil. On the campaign trail, Biden vowed to cancel the Keystone XL cross-border permit should he win the presidencyand on his first day in office, he made good on that promise. Revoking the illegally issued pipeline permit is a start, but we call on the Biden administration to do more, to go further, to respect the rights of Native peoples and improve the relationships between tribes and the federal government.. This dirty, dangerous oil, which is almost impossible to clean and affects the health of people, is bad news for our countryand the planet. Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this blog post are the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the official position of UAB or the Institute for Human Rights. This map is a free and public tool designed to support impacted communities along the route about the risks of living in proximity to fossil fuel pipelines and development. The court rightly found that today.. The Tribes filed this amended complaint (1) to stop the President from trying to circumvent the court and (2) to add claims against TC Energy Corp. (formerly TransCanada Corp.) because maps now show the pipeline corridor crossing tribal territory and water supplies. 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. The construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline would strengthen the United States economy, provide energy security and have minimal environmental impact.