The federal government violated the 1851 Treaty of Ft Laramie and 1855 Lame Bull Treaty, in which the US committed to protect against future harm to the tribes natural resources. Heres why thats a disaster in the making. Bulldozers were seen this week grading the land in Tripp County, South Dakota, adjacent to Rosebud lands. The protests were primarily peaceful, with camps and prayer circles set up on the land where construction was to take place. Treaties are more than solemn promises between nations. 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. June: Phase 1 of the Keystone Pipeline goes online. With this construction, workers will descend on the communities along the pipelines proposed path. Rather than honoring these legal obligations, the United States has chosen to blatantly violate them. The Tribes are entitled to protect the health and welfare of their people and territory and to ensure that their treaties are upheld. its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. But Nebraskas got a slew of public hearings on the calendar, and legal challenges loom large. 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 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls Division, for numerous violations of the law in the Keystone XL pipeline permitting process. It also traverses land that Native. The authority to permit the pipeline falls within Congresss exclusive and plenary power to regulate foreign commerce. 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. Although TC Energy had twice been denied a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, on January 24, 2017, President Trump invited TC Energy to resubmit its application. This pipeline was proposed in 2008 and has been referred to as either the Keystone XL pipeline or KXL. NARF and our clients are confident in our claims against the construction of the pipeline, and we are optimistic the court will not allow this case to be dismissed. Upon entering office, President Trumpwith his pro-polluter cabinet of fossil fuel advocates, billionaires, and bankersquickly demonstrated that his priorities differed. Watch on Keystone XL 329 miles (529 km) in Canada (Hardisty, Alta., to Monchy, Sask.) Opposition emerges in Nebraska. 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. Its nasty stuff., A fully realized Keystone XL would have led to more mining of that nasty stuff by accelerating the pace at which its produced and transported. But the groundswell of public protest was up against a formidable opponenthundreds of millions spent on lobbying by the fossil fuel industry. Between the years of 1778 and 1871 alone, the United States government has signed over 370 treaties with different indigenous nations, nearly all of which promised peace, defined land boundaries, and protection of land, water, and hunting rights. However, despite youth and elderly leaders being in the front during the inevitable standoffs with police, Mace, tasers, and rubber bullets were used against the protestors. 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. We were not willing to sacrifice our water or safety for the financial benefit of a trans-national corporation. The decision echoed a seven-year State Department review process with EPA input that concluded the pipeline would fail to serve national interests. We are ensuring that TC Energy (TransCanada) follows and respects our law. The spill affected 200,000 square feet of wetlands, which could take years to recoverif it ever does. 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. July: The State Department extends its review of Keystone, saying they need more time for review before a final environmental impact assessment can be released. Elections turn control of the U.S. Congress over to Republicans, who pledge to move forward on Keystone XL. Obama says TransCanada is free to submit another application. You may remember the Keystone XL pipeline from 2015, when a movement galvanized by the growing threat of climate change successfully pushed President Obama to reject the project. 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. Tracey Osborne, Climate Alliance Mapping Project 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. Pipeline opponents file a lawsuit against the Nebraska government claiming the state law used to review the new route is unconstitutional. Refining the sticky black gunk produces piles of petroleum coke, a hazardous, coal-like by-product. This rate of toxic spills is much more frequent than TransCanada predicted and reported to the federal government. Opposition outside the courts was swift and strong as well. 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. 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. 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. TransCanada must comply with Rosebud law. They have laws protecting their water and those laws must be respected. UAB also encourages applications from individuals with disabilities and veterans. 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. Although, the pipelines proposed path crosses the plaintiff tribes homelands, the tribes have not been consulted as required by law and DOI policy. Because of the highly corrosive and acidic nature of the tar sands oil, there contains a higher likelihood that the pipeline will leak. It is the largest underground water source in the United States. (For evidence, note the 2010 tar sands oil spill in Kalamazoo River, Michigan, a disaster that cost Enbridge more than a billion dollars in cleanup fees and took six years to settle in court.) Since its construction in 1977, the Trans Alaska Pipeline has transported almost 17 billion barrels of oil, and currently transports about 527,323 barrels a day. 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. TransCanada agreed to abide by tribal law. New climate change information requires a new environmental impact analysis. This is not a pipeline to America, said the late civil rights activist Julian Bond, among the many arrested. The activities described in the projects Environmental Impact Statement, namely rock ripping, blasting, trenching, top soil removal, and replacement of removed materials as backfill would adversely affect Rosebuds mineral estate. But Keystone XL . People must understand that the Ogalalla Aquifer that this pipeline will cross covers 8 states and waters 30 percent of American crops. 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. 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.. 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 . The presidential permit comes nearly a decade after Calgary-based TransCanada applied to . 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 . Despite all of these facts, throughout the permitting process, there was no analysis of trust obligations, no analysis of treaty rights, no analysis of the potential impact on hunting and fishing rights, no analysis of potential impacts on the Rosebud Sioux Tribes unique water system, no analysis of the potential impact of spills on tribal citizens, and no analysis of the potential impact on cultural sites in the path of the pipeline, which is in violation of the NEPA and the NHPA. This dirty, dangerous oil, which is almost impossible to clean and affects the health of people, is bad news for our countryand the planet. View detailed information and reviews for 5855 Green Valley Cir in Culver City, CA and get driving directions with road conditions and live traffic updates along the way. January: The Nebraska Supreme Court narrowly strikes down the lower-court decision, ruling that the governors actions were constitutional. Opponents of this projectnow called the Gulf Coast Pipelinesay that TC Energy took advantage of legal loopholes to push the pipeline through, obtaining authorization under a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers nationwide permit and dodging the more rigorous vetting process for individual permits, which requires public input. If the Presidents goal was to avoid complying with the District Courts decision in that case, it worked. Share. 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. 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. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has retained the NARF to represent its interests with regard to the Keystone XL pipeline. We look forward to holding the Trump Administration and TransCanada accountable to the Tribes and the applicable laws that must be followed., NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Campbell also reacted to the news, Of course, the treaties were agreed to by the president of the United States and ratified by the Senate, so the treaties clearly apply. Its no small feat extracting oil from tar sands, and doing so comes with steep environmental and economic costs. March: The U.S. Department of State issues a Presidential Permit authorizing Keystone facilities at the U.S.-Canada border. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Boulder, CO (303) 447-8760 A similar crude oil project, the Dakota Access Pipeline has received media attention in previous years due to the police and state reactions to the protests over its creation. In the two years leading up to the November 2014 midterm elections, the fossil fuel industry spent more than $721 million to court allies in Congress. When that failedthanks to a lawsuit brought by NRDC and other groupsTrump reissued the cross-border permit himself. 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. Keystone XL would have crossed agriculturally important and environmentally sensitive areas, including hundreds of rivers, streams, aquifers, and water bodies.