A warning sign near the Dakota Access Pipeline endpoint in Patoka, Illinois on Nov. 11, 2016. Cyrene Krey / Flickr
The controversial Dakota Access Pipeline won a reprieve Wednesday when an appeals court canceled a lower court order mandating the pipeline be shut down and emptied of oil while a full environmental impact statement is completed.
<p>The shutdown order, which would have gone into effect Wednesday, marked the first time a major oil pipeline was court ordered to cease operations for environmental reasons. But while its reversal is disappointing for pipeline opponents, Wednesday's decision was not wholly favorable for the pipeline, either. The court refused to halt the initial order for a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/dakota-access-pipeline-environmental-review-2645577384.html" target="_self">new environmental review</a> of the pipeline's crossing under the Missouri River, where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fears it will pollute its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a> and sacred lands if it leaks.</p><p>"We've been in this legal battle for four years, and we aren't giving up this fight," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith said in an <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/dc-circuit-mixed-decision-dakota-access-shutdown-order?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social" target="_blank">Earthjustice press release</a>. "As the environmental review process gets underway in the months ahead, we look forward to showing why the Dakota Access Pipeline is too dangerous to operate."</p>
<div id="e3dbb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f1c6bf3b1b2ec9c26be8e6fd6776c2be"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291118408277397505" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">But the fight isn't over! DAPL's permit to cross underneath Lake Oahe is vacated, so it's effectively operating ill… https://t.co/EOPn59siC7</div> — Earthjustice (@Earthjustice)<a href="https://twitter.com/Earthjustice/statuses/1291118408277397505">1596661591.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In its ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put the question of whether the pipeline could continue to operate without a permit back to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/dakota-access-pipeline-staves-off-shutdown-order-once-again" target="_blank">Bloomberg News reported</a>. It said it expected the Army Corps of Engineers to clarify the issue.</p><p>"It's interesting what the court did here," Earthjustice lawyer Jan Hasselman, who represents the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, told Bloomberg. "While the focus has been on this judicially imposed shutdown order, the bigger picture is the environmental impact statement and whether a permit will be reissued under the next administration."</p><p>Hasselman argued that the pipeline is now operating illegally, and, if the Army Corps of Engineers decides to let it keep running while a review is completed, the issue will return to court.</p><p>"[W]e are confident that it will be shut down eventually," he said in the press release.</p>
<p>The pipeline's owner Energy Transfer had immediately appealed the shutdown order, and the company's lawyer said it would continue with the legal process.</p><p>"We believe our legal positions are strong, and we are confident that the pipeline will continue to operate," General Counsel Tom Mason told Bloomberg.</p><p>The oil and gas industry more generally had a mixed response to Wednesday's ruling.</p><p>"The Court rightly stayed the decision to shut down and empty the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been operating for over three years and provides millions of tax dollars to states, affordable energy to the entire region, and thousands of jobs along its route," American Petroleum Institute senior vice president and chief legal officer Paul Afonso said in a statement reported by <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/510748-court-cancels-shutdown-of-dakota-access-pipeline" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. "However, the failure to uphold the easement granted years ago by the federal government exemplifies the problems with our outdated permitting system, which allows protracted challenges to advance within the courts and ultimately take away jobs, tax dollars, and investments that pipelines bring to communities that sorely need them."</p>
<p>The Dakota Access Pipeline currently carries 570,000 barrels of oil a day 1,172-miles from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The fight against the pipeline garnered international attention through major <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a>-led <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/what-standing-rock-gave-world-2549906333.html" target="_self">protests</a> in 2016 and 2017. The Obama administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/army-corps-permit-dakota-access-pipeline-2128363393.html" target="_self">denied</a> the river crossing permit in late 2016, but President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_self">pushed the project through</a> via executive order early after taking office. It has now been operating a little more than three years.</p>
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A statue of John Muir at the visitors center of Yosemite National Park, California. Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Sierra Club, long known for its environmental advocacy and its support of progressive organizations, has decided that it will no longer offer blind reverence to its founder John Muir, as The Washington Post reported. Muir, considered the "wilderness prophet," "patron saint of the American wilderness" and "father of the national parks," also espoused racist views.
<p>Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in post on the group's website that "it's time to take down some of our own monuments, starting with some truth-telling about the Sierra Club's early history," according to The Washington Post.</p><p>Muir "made derogatory comments about Black people and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples">Indigenous peoples</a> that drew on deeply harmful racist stereotypes, though his views evolved later in his life," Brune wrote, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/sierra-club-john-muir.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "As the most iconic figure in Sierra Club history, Muir's words and actions carry an especially heavy weight. They continue to hurt and alienate Indigenous people and people of color who come into contact with the Sierra Club."</p>
<p>Brune <a href="https://twitter.com/bruneski/status/1286019023222845440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1286019023222845440%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2020%2F07%2F22%2Fus%2Fjohn-muir-sierra-club-racism-trnd%2Findex.html" target="_blank">tweeted</a> a link to his post, writing "we understand that the struggles to protect people and our environment cannot be separated, and it is our responsibility to use our power to help abolish racism, which is destroying lives and the planet."</p><p>The Sierra Club said the recent protests triggered by the May 25 death of George Floyd sparked the reckoning with its founders.</p>
<p>In notes of a trek across a swath of America, Muir wrote down disparaging observations about Native Americans and Black Southerners, according to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/07/22/894188718/taking-down-its-own-monuments-sierra-club-assesses-the-racism-of-john-muir" target="_blank">NPR</a>. In one entry, he referred to a Cherokee dwelling as "the uncouth transitionist ... wigwams of savages," as NPR reported.</p><p>Other entries include derogatory comments about a Black child and a Black couple whom Muir encountered, according to the NPR. He also referred to Black people as lazy "Sambos," a particularly offensive slur, as <a href="https://apnews.com/c52ccd3ac1c127289cf5b1a5c0dc070d" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p><p>Muir also held hostile sentiments toward Indigenous tribes in California, many of whom had been displaced by white settlers. He considered them dirty and lazy and a scar on the otherwise picturesque landscape of the Sierra Nevada area, as The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>"There is a dark underside here that will not be erased by just saying Muir was a racist," said Richard White, a Stanford history professor, to The Associated Press. "I would leave Muir's name on things but explain that, as hard as it may be to accept, it is not just Muir who was racist. The way we created the wilderness areas we now rightly prize was racist."</p><p>White noted that Muir's image of a pristine landscape could only exist if it was devoid of native people, as The Associated Press reported. Despite the fact that they had lived there for thousands of years, Muir wrote that they "seemed to have no right place in the landscape."</p><p>While the Sierra Club now has over 3.5 million members, it started as an exclusive club for white upper and middle class men. The applications of Black people were always turned down, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/22/us/john-muir-sierra-club-racism-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. To right that wrong, Brune announced reforms within the organization. The organization will redesign its leadership structure so "Black, Indigenous, and other leaders of color at the Sierra Club make up the majority of the team making top-level organizational decisions."</p><p>Five million dollars of its budget will also be shifted to make investments in the organization's staff of color and on environmental and racial justice work, according to CNN.</p><p>"I know that the steps I've outlined above are only the beginnings of what will be a years-long process to reckon with our history, regain trust from the communities we have harmed, and create a diverse and equitable Sierra Club for the 21st century," Brune concluded, as CNN reported.</p>
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Indigenous groups oppose the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion over concerns it will spill oil in their communities and erode their sovereignty. CBC News: The National / YouTube
The lead insurer of Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline has dropped out.
<p><br/></p>
<p><br>A spokesperson for the Trans Mountain <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a>, which is planning a controversial expansion opposed by environmental groups and some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> communities, said that Zurich would not renew its insurance coverage, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-pipeline-climate-insurance/zurich-insurance-drops-cover-for-trans-mountain-oil-pipeline-idUSKCN24N2MU?fbclid=IwAR0u7hsm8ITIgZuj3t_CmznqRrHgAfk1QAdcglc8vWRI4SpyRtkGnf0BN04" target="_blank">Reuters reported Wednesday</a>. Zurich's decision comes as environmental groups have put pressure on insurers to abandon the pipeline and other <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> projects over their contribution to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p>
<p>"This project is never getting built," advocacy group <a href="https://www.stand.earth/" target="_blank">Stand.earth</a> tweeted in response to the news.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: Trans Mountain's biggest insurer <a href="https://twitter.com/Zurich?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Zurich</a> has dropped the pipeline! This project is never 👏 getting 👏 built. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StopTMX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StopTMX</a> <a href="https://t.co/KkRXx9aUsu">https://t.co/KkRXx9aUsu</a></p>— Stand.earth (@standearth) <a href="https://twitter.com/standearth/status/1286033844991193088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Stand.earth is one of 32 environmental groups behind a petition urging Trans Mountain's 26 insurers to cease covering the project by Aug. 31, <a href="https://www.burnabynow.com/news/insurance-company-drops-trans-mountain-policy-citing-climate-change-1.24164551" target="_blank">according to Burnaby Now</a>. Zurich is the third insurer to do so in the last two months, <a href="https://twitter.com/standearth/status/1286056235775795211" target="_blank">Stand.earth said</a>.</p><p>"If you needed proof that petitions, emails, and calls work – this is it," the group wrote on Facebook.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2b8505bb16a40d9d6520ef536a043491"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/standearth/photos/a.415188889220/10157890450789221?type=3"></div></div>
<p>The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-2645043384.html" target="_self">would nearly triple</a> the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil" target="_self">oil</a> flowing along its 715-mile route from Alberta's tar sands to the coast of British Columbia from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000. Its opponents have faced legal setbacks in recent months. In February, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the government had adequately consulted with First Nations groups when approving the project. Then, in July, the Supreme Court of Canada opted not to hear an appeal of that decision from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Squamish Nation and the Coldwater Indian Band, according to Burnaby Now.</p><p>Indigenous groups oppose the pipeline expansion over concerns it will <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-oil-spill-british-columbia-2646173087.html" target="_self">spill oil</a> in their communities and erode their sovereignty.</p><p>"What is happening is about more than just a risky pipeline and tanker project. We see this as a major setback for reconciliation," Chief Leah George-Wilson of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation told <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/first-nations-disappointed-trans-mountain-supreme-court-1.5635479" target="_blank">CBC News</a> following the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the appeal.</p>
<p>Pressuring the project's financial backers is another means of blocking it.</p><p>Trans Mountain's current insurance contract runs out in August of this year, according to Reuters. For now, the company says it still has enough insurers to cover its regular operations and the expansion.</p><p>"There remains adequate capacity in the market to meet Trans Mountain's insurance needs and our renewal," a pipeline spokesperson told Reuters in an email.</p><p>Zurich did not comment on its reasons for abandoning the project.</p><p>Other insurers who covered the project this year include Munich Re, Lloyd's of London, Liberty Mutual and Chubb. Munich Re said it would review the contract based on its new policies on covering oil sands. The others declined to comment.</p><p>One insurer who dropped out in July, Talanx, based its decision on climate concerns.</p><p>"As a matter of principle, Talanx no longer invests in companies that derive more than 25% of their revenue or generate more than 25% of their power from coal. In addition, oil sands have been added to the list of exclusion criteria for both investments and underwriting," the company wrote, as Burnaby Now reported.</p>
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Indian Territory, which occupied all Oklahoma minus the panhandle, was almost 44 million acres of fertile rolling prairies, rivers and groves of enormous trees. Hugh Pickens / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
By Dwanna L. McKay
Some Oklahomans are expressing trepidation about the Supreme Court's recent ruling that much of the eastern part of the state belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. They wonder whether they must now pay taxes to or be governed by the Muscogee.
<p>In alarmist language, <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1281269895519514625?s=20" target="_blank">Sen. Ted Cruz of neighboring Texas tweeted</a> that the Supreme Court "just gave away half of Oklahoma, literally. Manhattan is next."</p><p>In fact, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-upholds-american-indian-treaty-promises-orders-oklahoma-to-follow-federal-law-142459" target="_blank">landmark July 9 decision</a> applies only to criminal law. It gives federal and tribal courts jurisdiction over felonies committed by tribal citizens within the Creek reservation, not the state of Oklahoma.</p><p>Any shock that tribal nations <a href="http://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/tribal-governance" target="_blank">have sovereignty</a> over their own land reflects a serious misunderstanding of American history. For Oklahoma – indeed, all of North America – has always been, for lack of a better term, Indian Country.</p>
‘Indian Country’
<p>As both an <a href="https://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/dept/raceethnicitymigration/people/profile.html?person=mckay_dwanna_lynn" target="_blank">educator</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9h85fD8AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">scholar</a>, I work to correct the erasure of Indigenous histories through my research and teaching.</p><p>North America was not a vast, unpopulated wilderness when white colonizers arrived in 1620. Up to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Indian-Holocaust-Survival-Civilization/dp/080612220X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9780806120744&linkCode=qs&qid=1594487258&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">100 million people</a> of more than 1,000 sovereign Indigenous nations occupied the area that would become the United States. At the time, fewer than 80 million people lived in Europe.</p><p>America's Indigenous nations were incredibly advanced, with extensive trade networks and economic centers, superior agricultural cultivation, well developed metalwork, pottery and weaving practices, as historian <a href="http://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-United-States-P1164.aspx" target="_blank">Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz</a> has comprehensively detailed.</p><p>Unlike Europe, with its periodic epidemics, North America had little disease, Dunbar-Ortiz says. People used herbal medicines, dentistry, surgery and daily hygienic bathing to salubrious effect.</p><p>Historically, Indigenous nations <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-people-invented-the-so-called-american-dream-85351" target="_blank">emphasized equity</a>, consensus and community. Though individualism would come to define the United States, my <a href="https://doi.org/10.17953/aicr.37.4.g0rj7q5jp961q581" target="_blank">research</a> finds that Native Americans retain these values today, along with our guiding principles of respect, responsibility and reciprocity.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ2MzI1OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjE3Njk4M30.rseHgswjEJ5mRvWLXVUyvJGvdcR2pLYPo5GkenpVTGw/img.jpg?width=980" id="42039" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c0db2d6ec4e958d48d101c67e0d7d52" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The US has violated every treaty it has made with Indian Tribes. Public.Resource.Org
Broken Promises and Stolen Lands
<p>European and American colonizers <a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/peoples/text3/indianscolonists.pdf" target="_blank">did not hold these same values</a>. From 1492 to 1900, they pushed inexorably westward across the North American continent, <a href="http://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-United-States-P1164.aspx" target="_blank">burning Native villages, destroying crops</a>, <a href="https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1157&context=facsch" target="_blank">committing sexual assaults</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Indians-Tribal-Deborah-Miranda/dp/1597142018" target="_blank">enslaving people</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/index.htm" target="_blank">perpetrating massacres</a>. The government did not punish these atrocities against Indigenous Nations and their citizens.</p><p>Citing the so-called "<a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579815.001.0001/acprof-9780199579815" target="_blank">Doctrine of Discovery</a>" and <a href="https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1373&context=wvlr" target="_blank">Manifest Destiny</a>, U.S. policymakers argued that the federal government had a divine duty to fully develop the region. <a href="https://time.com/5851864/institutional-racism-america/" target="_blank">Racist in language and logic</a>, they contended that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218821450" target="_blank">"Indians" did not know how to work or to care for the land</a> because they were inferior to whites.</p><p>Oklahoma was born of this <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TXjNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=normalcy+of+legitimized+racism&source=bl&ots=CUXMMH5VZ4&sig=ACfU3U37fr_T2Ie4oh0qrhyW3BlnLqo_4Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiz14Ljz8rqAhUhgK0KHeAGCggQ6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=normalcy%20of%20legitimized%20racism&f=false" target="_blank">institutionalized racism</a>.</p><p>Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole nations – known as the Five Tribes – were forced from their ancestral homelands in the southeast and relocated to "Indian Territory," as Oklahoma was then designated. Half of the Muscogee and Cherokee populations died from brutal and inhumane treatment as they were forcibly marched 2,200 miles across nine states to their new homelands in what most Americans call the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/trte/index.htm" target="_blank">Trail of Tears</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1890e1-01.pdf" target="_blank">Indian Territory</a>, which occupied all Oklahoma minus the panhandle, was almost 44 million acres of fertile rolling prairies, rivers and groves of enormous trees. Several Indian nations already lived in the area, including the Apache, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa, Osage and Wichita.</p><p>Legally, Indian Territory <a href="https://www.narf.org/nill/documents/icc_final_report.pdf" target="_blank">was to belong to the tribal nations forever</a>, and trespass by settlers was forbidden. But over the next two centuries, Congress would violate every one of the 375 treaties it made with Indian tribes as well as numerous statutory acts, <a href="https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/12-20-Broken-Promises.pdf" target="_blank">according the United States Commission on Civil Rights</a>.</p><p>By 1890, only about 25 million acres of Indian Territory remained. The Muscogee lost nearly half their lands in an <a href="https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=RE001" target="_blank">1866 Reconstruction-era treaty</a>. And in 1889, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Road-Disappearance-History-Civilization-American/dp/0806115327" target="_blank">almost 2 million acres in western Oklahoma</a> were redesignated as "Unassigned Lands" and opened to "white settlement." By 1890, the U.S. Census showed that only 28% of people in Indian Territory were actually "Indian."</p><p>With statehood in 1907, Oklahoma assumed jurisdiction over all its territory, ultimately <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-9526/132680/20200211152306523_Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Muscogee%20Creek%20Nation.pdf" target="_blank">denying that the Muscogee had ever had a reservation</a> there. That is the historic injustice corrected by the Supreme Court on July 9.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ2MzI0MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjc3NTg5M30.l0WZps3rnms0p6asMW6L5ZyglGPda15E_eKlo0OB54s/img.png?width=980" id="653db" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="919b544e0453b51390be95886cc2b7d2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Eastern Oklahoma was granted by Congress to Native tribes in the 19th century. Kmusser / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Respect, Responsibility and Reciprocity
<p>Despite all the brutality and broken promises, the Five Tribes have contributed socially, culturally and economically to Oklahoma far beyond the shrinking bounds of their territories, in ways that benefit all residents.</p><p>The public school system created by the Choctaws shortly after their arrival became the model for Oklahoma schools that exists today. Last year, <a href="https://oklahoman.com/article/5653531/caught-in-the-middle-130-million-in-education-funding-embroiled-in-tribal-gaming-clash" target="_blank">Oklahoma tribes</a> contributed over US$130 million to Oklahoma public schools.</p><p>Oklahoma tribes also <a href="https://www.tribalselfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Alltribe-2019-Impact-Report.pdf" target="_blank">enrich</a> Oklahoma's economy, employing over 96,000 people – most of them non-Native – and attracting tourists with their cultural events. In 2017, Oklahoma tribes produced almost $13 billion in goods and services and paid out $4.6 billion in wages and benefits.</p><p>The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, in particular, <a href="http://www.mcnimpact.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/MCN_Impact_Report_June-26-2019.pdf" target="_blank">invests heavily</a> in the state, creating businesses, building roads and providing jobs, health care and social services in 11 Oklahoma counties.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ2MzI0NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MzQyODE1Nn0.SOL7ZvG2JgfChlr5IldYnxUntjAmP8_A8NzM13_O_2E/img.jpg?width=980" id="01d5a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f925fbee6cf262ac00611918897d6857" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>
<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dwanna-l-mckay-1135133" target="_blank">Dwanna L. McKay</a> is an</em><em> Assistant Professor of Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Studies, Colorado College.<br/>
</em>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em><em>Dwanna L. McKay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em></em>
</p><p>
<em><em></em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/oklahoma-is-and-always-has-been-native-land-142546" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
</p><iframe height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142546/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" width="1"></iframe>A 2012 exhibition on Muscogee achievement at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian. Tim Evanson / flickr, CC BY 4.0
<h2>Still Our Homelands</h2><p>Citizens of the Five Tribes have also contributed to broader American society.</p><p>Before the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw_code_talkers" target="_blank">Choctaw Code Talkers</a> used their language as code for the United States in World War I. Lt. Col <a href="https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/creek-indian-wins-medal-of-honor" target="_blank">Ernest Childers</a>, a Muscogee, won the Medal of Honor for his service in World War II. U.S. Poet Laureate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/books/joy-harjo-poet-laureate-second-term.html#:%7E:text=Joy%20Harjo%20has%20been%20appointed,writers%20such%20as%20Tracy%20K." target="_blank">Joy Harjo</a>, also a Muscogee, is the first Indigenous poet laureate. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/mary-g-ross.htm" target="_blank">Mary Ross</a>, a Cherokee, was the first known Indigenous woman engineer. And <a href="https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=HE024" target="_blank">John Herrington</a>, Chickasaw, was a NASA astronaut. These are but a few examples.</p><p>The strong collaborative leadership of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation was <a href="https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/post/tribes-state-officials-react-historic-scotus-ruling-mcgirt-v-oklahoma" target="_blank">apparent after the Supreme Court's ruling</a> in Principal Chief David Hill's official response.</p><p>"Today's decision will allow the Nation to honor our ancestors by maintaining our established sovereignty and territorial boundaries," Hill said, adding: "We will continue to work with federal and state law enforcement agencies to ensure that public safety will be maintained."</p>From Your Site Articles
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A protest against the name of the Washington Redskins in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Nov. 2, 2014. Fibonacci Blue / CC BY 2.0
The Washington Redskins will retire their controversial name and logo, the National Football League (NFL) team announced Monday.
<p>The decision follows a review of the name and logo that the team <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/Redskins/status/1279092759052398592" target="_blank">announced July 3</a> "in light of recent events around our country."</p><p>"Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review," the team said in a statement.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGbWVkaWElMkZFY3p0TmdCV0FBQTVXRl8uanBnJTNBbWVkaXVtJmhvPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGcGJzLnR3aW1nLmNvbSZzPTEwMDYmaD01YzQzMGNiZDI5ZDY4MTAyZWFiNGExM2M0OTExMDM4ZDdiMmFiNzk3ZGY4MTA5ZmM0YTBiY2Y4NzA3MGMyNDU2JnNpemU9OTgweCZjPTM5OTU2ODk3NTkiLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNjMwMTM2OTg4fQ.YgodhwGfPgtLqye6G6kOJ-n5NtdkmedcHTjK730PwJc/img.jpg" id="dca13" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9c1d93c5c08249b98780571ea279d7b1" />
<p>The announcement comes as a swift and sudden reversal from team owner Dan Snyder. In 2013, he told USA TODAY to "put it in all caps" that he would never change the name, <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29454868/washington-nfl-team-says-retire-redskins-name-logo" target="_blank">ESPN reported</a>. But then came the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/protestors-publich-health-coronavirus-covid-19-testing-2646141562.html" target="_self">massive protests</a> following the police murder of George Floyd, which prompted a nationwide reckoning over racial justice. A few weeks later, multiple sources said Snyder had been discussing the team's name with the NFL for weeks.</p><p>The team also faced increased corporate and activist pressure. Eighty-seven investors and shareholders signed a letter to team sponsors FedEx, PepsiCo and Nike asking them to stop doing business with the team until the name was changed. All three responded with statements saying they had told the team to change its name, and FedEx said it would take its name off the stadium if this did not happen.</p>
<p>When the team announced it was considering a change, activist group <a href="https://www.changethemascot.org/" target="_blank">Change The Mascot</a> urged it to abandon the name immediately.</p><p>"There is no reason not to immediately announce that the team is changing the mascot, since any real review will lead to the inevitable conclusion that the deeply offensive and racist name of Washington's NFL team must go now," Change the Mascot leader Ray Halbritter said in a press release. "Team owner Dan Snyder can stand on the right side of history and create a new, positive legacy for his team, or instead continue embracing a bigoted slur that denigrates Native Americans and people of color."</p>
<p>The team has not yet announced a new name or logo, but ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that it would no longer use Native American imagery.</p><p>"Dan Snyder and Coach [Ron] Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition-rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years," the team said Monday.</p><p>The team has used the Redskins name for 87 years and the logo was designed by a Native American in 1971.</p>
<p>While the change was precipitated by recent protests, the movement to end the use of Native American imagery for names and mascots began in the 1970s, <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/retired-washington-nfl-team-leaves-racist-name-behind-pa0kLXIJ70uvMgEntv-xag" target="_blank">Indian Country Today reported</a>. Native American groups have targeted the Redskins name specifically for decades, and a recent UC Berkeley study found that 67 percent of respondents who strongly identified as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> thought the name was offensive.</p><p>While hundreds of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/maine-bans-native-american-mascots-2637401197.html" target="_self">universities and schools</a> have retired Native mascots in recent years, professional sports teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians have resisted, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/sports/football/washington-redskins-new-name.html" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>.</p><p>But activists vowed to keep fighting.</p><p>"Dear @Braves, @Chiefs, @NHLBlackhawks: The target on your backs just got much larger," the group Not Your Mascot tweeted.</p>
<div id="70d0a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6ca68952828cd7d57b80238aacaed935"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1282681032379174915" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Dear @Braves, @Chiefs, @NHLBlackhawks:
The target on your backs just got much larger.
Sincerely:
Everyone</div> — Not Your Mascot (@Not Your Mascot)<a href="https://twitter.com/NotYourMascot/statuses/1282681032379174915">1594649963.0</a></blockquote></div>
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In Major Win for Indigenous Rights, Supreme Court Rules Much of Eastern Oklahoma Is Still a Reservation
10 July
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Much of Eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. JustTulsa / CC BY 2.0
Much of Eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
<p>The 5-4 decision, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/supreme-court-oklahoma-mcgirt-creek-nation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> said was possibly the biggest legal victory for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> Americans in decades, affirmed that lands granted to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation by Congress in the 19th century remained theirs after Oklahoma became a state.</p><p>"This is a historic day," Principal Muscogee (Creek) Chief David Hill told The New York Times. "This is amazing. It's never too late to make things right."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f63eb4faa6017a480e24169ba2528989"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/mmiwusa/photos/a.1020336344743907/2906138969496959/?type=3&theater"></div></div>
<p>The decision comes after a long and painful history of forced removals and broken treaties endured by Native Americans at the hands of the U.S. government. The land in what is now Oklahoma was granted to the Creek in the first place following their forced relocation from their homes in Georgia and Alabama in the 1830s. This is something that Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged in writing the majority opinion.</p><p>"On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise," he wrote.</p><p>Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined him in the majority, while Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the minority opinion, according to the <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/07/opinion-analysis-justices-toe-hard-line-in-affirming-reservation-status-for-eastern-oklahoma/" target="_blank">SCOTUS blog</a>.</p>
<p>The case that led to the ruling, <em>McGirt v. Oklahoma</em>, involved a Seminole man named Jimcy McGirt who was convicted of sex crimes against a child on Creek land, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889562040/supreme-court-rules-that-about-half-of-oklahoma-is-indian-land" target="_blank">NPR explained</a>. After he was convicted, he argued that his case should be retried in federal court because the state court lacked jurisdiction: Congress had never disbanded the Creek reservation, so the tribe retained sovereignty, according to NPR and The New York Times.</p><p>The Supreme Court agreed.</p><p>"When our tribes were removed west of the Mississippi, to what is now Oklahoma, we were promised that this land would be ours for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. That commitment from the United States was more than just a promise — it was the law. For more than a century, Oklahoma ignored the law and stepped on our treaty rights. Today, the Supreme Court said no more," Cherokee Nation citizen Rebecca Nagle said in an article published by <a href="https://medium.com/@IndigenousRising/on-the-far-end-of-the-trail-of-tears-was-a-promise-4bc9cef058ce" target="_blank">Indigenous Rising Media</a>.</p>
<div id="0f5a4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2cde7da40389e37d787d22e434a5d64d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1281525996697587713" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today the US Supreme Court effectively ruled a portion of Oklahoma is indeed Indian Territory. It is a great day to… https://t.co/HCV7gXXnTu</div> — Indigenous Environmental Network (@Indigenous Environmental Network)<a href="https://twitter.com/IENearth/statuses/1281525996697587713">1594374581.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The ruling has two main implications, according to NPR.</p><ol><li>Native Americans accused of major crimes committed on reservation land will now be tried in federal court, while those accused of minor offenses will be tried in tribal courts.</li><li>Native Americans tried and convicted by the state of Oklahoma in the past will have grounds to challenge these convictions.</li></ol><p>The decision impacts the Muscogee (Creek) and four other nations with similar treaties: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole.</p><p>In his minority opinion, Roberts worried this would lead to confusion for the state's criminal justice system.</p><p>"The state's ability to prosecute serious crimes will be hobbled and decades of past convictions could well be thrown out," Roberts wrote, according to The New York Times. "On top of that, the court has profoundly destabilized the governance of eastern Oklahoma."</p>
<p>However, United States Attorneys for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma said they were confident they could handle the new arrangement.</p><p>"As Oklahoma's United States Attorneys, we are confident tribal, state, local, and federal law enforcement will work together to continue providing exceptional public safety under this new ruling by the United States Supreme Court," they said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.mvskokemedia.com/2020/07/09/scotus-opinion-upholds-tribal-treaties-promises/" target="_blank">Mvskoke Media</a>.</p><p>There is also a chance the ruling could impact <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> operations in Eastern Oklahoma, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1063536563" target="_blank">E&E News explained</a>. That's because those operations will now be taking place on federal land, rather than state land, and could be subject to tougher regulations.</p><p>"The status of land is a really big point in determining who has regulatory authority, and that's why it has broad implications," Elizabeth Kronk Warner, dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, told E&E News. "Anytime there is oil and gas development on federal land, you have to go through the federal government to get your permitting and everything, and that's true for development in Indian Country."</p>
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More than 200 Indigenous Nations demonstrated against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Canon Ball, ND on Sept. 2, 2016. Joe Brusky / Flickr
A federal judge ruled Monday that the controversial Dakota Access pipeline must be shut down and drained of oil until a full environmental review of the project is completed.
<p>The decision is a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/historic-day-for-standing-rock-as-pipeline-company-told-to-shut-down-remove-oil-KkDdhNzafUONvPvkmBc66A" target="_blank">Indian Country Today reported</a>. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fears the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> will pollute their <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a> and sacred lands if it leaks from where it flows beneath the Missouri River, and the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation sits adjacent to the Standing Rock Sioux and the river.</p><p>"Today is a historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the many people who have supported us in the fight against the pipeline," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith said in a <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/judge-orders-dakota-access-pipeline-to-shut-down" target="_blank">press release from Earthjustice</a>, the group that litigated the case. "This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning."</p>
<div id="348d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="744af6e4e53916e3c963b0271aa1c6b3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280155991833706497" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Breaking: Judge Orders Dakota Access Pipeline to be SHUT DOWN! #NoDAPL #ProtectTheSacred https://t.co/UxhUgdfA2Q</div> — Indigenous Environmental Network (@Indigenous Environmental Network)<a href="https://twitter.com/IENearth/statuses/1280155991833706497">1594047947.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The ruling is also a major blow to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> industry and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>, which has pushed to keep major pipeline projects like the Dakota Access and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl" target="_self">Keystone XL</a> afloat. It comes less than 24 hours after Dominion and Duke Energy <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-canceled-2646347475.html" target="_self">announced</a> they were cancelling their planned <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline" target="_self">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a> because extensive legal challenges had led to delays and uncertainty. Together, the pipelines' fates bode ill for the future prospects of large-scale <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/energy" target="_self">energy</a> pipeline projects, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-06/demise-of-gas-project-shows-u-s-pipelines-becoming-unbuildable" target="_blank">Bloomberg pointed out</a>.</p><p>"I would expect this to be a turning point for new investment," Katie Bays, co-founder of Washington-based Sandhill Strategy LLC, told Bloomberg. "There is real investor fatigue around this parade of legal and regulatory headwinds to energy projects."</p>
<p>The decision by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to shut down the pipeline marks the first time that a judge has closed an operating pipeline for environmental reasons, Southern Methodist University energy law professor James W. Coleman told Bloomberg.</p><p>"The Court does not reach its decision with blithe disregard for the lives it will affect," Boasberg wrote Monday, as <a href="https://apnews.com/be393de49dae81a2198ef30976212290" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. "Yet, given the seriousness of the Corps' NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) error, the impossibility of a simple fix, the fact that Dakota Access did assume much of its economic risk knowingly, and the potential harm each day the pipeline operates, the Court is forced to conclude that the flow of oil must cease."</p>
<p>In its press release, Earthjustice pointed out that a full environmental review could take several years, and then additional permits would have to be issued, meaning the ultimate permitting decision might be made by another administration.</p><p>But the pipeline's owner Energy Transfer vowed to challenge Boasberg's decision.</p><p>"We believe that the ruling issued this morning from Judge Boasberg is not supported by the law or the facts of the case. Furthermore, we believe that Judge Boasberg has exceeded his authority in ordering the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been safely operating for more than three years," Energy Transfer spokesperson Lisa Coleman said in a statement to <a href="https://pgjonline.com/news/2020/07-july/energy-transfer-vows-to-keep-dakota-access-oil-flowing" target="_blank"><em>Pipeline & Gas Journal</em></a>. "We will be immediately pursuing all available legal and administrative processes and are confident that once the law and full record are fully considered Dakota Access Pipeline will not be shut down and that oil will continue to flow."</p><p>Earthjustice staff attorney Jan Hasselman, who represented the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, noted on Twitter that Energy Transfer had already filed an appeal.</p>
<div id="e2278" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="355c2287182da682e80cc16f070c3738"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280275895228305409" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Well, that didn't take long: DAPL just filed its appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal seeking to overturn th… https://t.co/lav9hmwlIU</div> — Jan Hasselman (@Jan Hasselman)<a href="https://twitter.com/JanHasselman/statuses/1280275895228305409">1594076534.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline currently carries 570,000 barrels of oil a day from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois, according to The Associated Press. It was the subject of high-profile <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a>-led <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/what-standing-rock-gave-world-2549906333.html" target="_self">protests</a> in 2016 and 2017.</p><p>In <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/army-corps-permit-dakota-access-pipeline-2128363393.html" target="_self">December 2016</a>, the Obama administration and the Army Corps of Engineers denied a key permit for the pipeline, and the Army Corps was set to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement to seek alternative routes. But when he came into office in January, President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_self">sped up</a> the pipeline approval process via executive order and the review was never completed. The pipeline began operating in June 2017, according to The Associated Press, but the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe continued to fight it in court.</p><p>Judge Boasberg <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/dakota-access-pipeline-environmental-review-2645577384.html" target="_self">ordered a full review</a> in late March of this year and asked both the Army Corps and the Standing Rock Sioux to submit briefs explaining why the pipeline should or should not continue to operate while the review was taking place. On Monday, he sided with the tribe.</p><p>"I applaud the actions of the US District Court in finding what we knew all along, that this pipeline, like many other actions taken by the US government, is in fact illegally operating," Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier said in a statement reported by Indian Country Today. "The fact that this operation had been operating illegally for three years before this conclusion was finally made shows you the power that money holds on the American government."</p>
<div id="ed115" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5ddb18e2f74bd9e197943aee19fd1cbd"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280288707585720321" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">I have been getting "congratulations" today. Today was about our planet and everything for which she provides life.… https://t.co/m3lwwbikhj</div> — CRSTChairman (@CRSTChairman)<a href="https://twitter.com/CRSTChairman/statuses/1280288707585720321">1594079589.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Climate campaigners and Indigenous peoples across Canada have spent the past several years protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline. Mark Klotz / Flickr / cc
By Elana Sulakshana
Rainforest Action Network recently uncovered a document that lists the 11 companies that are currently insuring the controversial Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline in Canada. These global insurance giants are providing more than USD$500 million in coverage for the massive risks of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, and they're also lined up to cover the expansion project.
<p>The existing Trans Mountain pipeline is a major environmental and public health hazard with a <a href="https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/frequently_asked_questions_regarding_the_kinder_morgan_pipeline_proposal" target="_blank">long history of disastrous spills</a>. Earlier this month, 50,000 gallons of crude oil <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-oil-spill-british-columbia-2646173087.html" target="_self">spilled</a> from a pump station located above an aquifer that supplies the Sumas First Nation with drinking water.</p>
<p>The Trans Mountain Expansion Project would multiply these risks tremendously. Though it is officially called an "expansion," this is no minor renovation. The Canadian government, which owns Trans Mountain, is attempting to build a parallel pipeline that would ship more than 890,000 barrels per year of highly-polluting tar sands crude oil to the coast of British Columbia.</p><p>For more than a decade, the expansion of Trans Mountain has been delayed in the face of powerful, Indigenous-led resistance on the ground and in the courts. It has not secured the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of Indigenous communities that are directly in the pipeline's route. Right now, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Squamish Nation, and Coldwater Indian Band are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/trans-mountain-tmx-first-nations-supreme-court-1.5525266" target="_blank">actively engaged in legal challenges</a> on the project, and <a href="http://tinyhousewarriors.com/" target="_blank">land defenders</a> are asserting their rights and title along the route. </p><p>Furthermore, pushing forward this project flies in the face of Canada's commitment to cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. To keep global warming under 1.5ºC, we must stop expanding tar sands — and all fossil fuels — and instead invest in a just transition to phase out existing operations. </p>
<p>In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the government and corporations are doubling down on their destructive plans to build new fossil fuel projects. Bulldozers that are laying the initial pipe on Trans Mountain have not quieted, even though this construction poses <a href="http://www.tinyhousewarriors.com/2020/04/shut-down-the-man-camps/" target="_blank">major risks</a> to Indigenous and rural communities in its path, as well as workers that are housed together in close quarters. In Alberta, <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/05/13/news/alberta-didnt-contain-it-covid-19-outbreak-oilsands-camp-has-spread-across-country" target="_blank">viral outbreaks</a> have been linked to<a href="http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/un-special-rapporteur-oil-gas-mining-operations-brings-increased-sexual-violence/" target="_blank"> man camps </a>at tar sands extraction sites, and yet the province's energy minister <a href="https://www.coastmountainnews.com/news/gathering-limits-make-it-a-great-time-to-be-building-a-pipeline-alberta-minister/" target="_blank">proclaimed</a> that now is a great time to construct a pipeline, due to social distancing protocols that limit public protest. </p><p>The risks of these pipelines are so great that under federal law, the current pipeline and its expansion are not able to transport any oil without insurance. So if we can stop the flow of insurance money, we can stop the flow of oil.</p><p>We're ramping up the pressure on the insurance companies that are providing critical financial support.</p>
Who’s insuring the pipeline? (2019-2020)
<p>Here's the list of insurance companies that are providing coverage from August 2019 through August 2020:</p><ol><li>Zurich (Switzerland)</li><li>Lloyd's (UK) </li><li>Liberty Mutual (US)</li><li>Chubb (US)</li><li>AIG (US)</li><li>WR Berkley (US)</li><li>Starr (US)</li><li>Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting (Canada)</li><li>Energy Insurance Mutual (US) </li><li>Temple Insurance (Germany), a Canadian member of the Munich Re group</li><li>HDI (Germany), which is owned by Talanx / Hannover Re</li></ol><p>These insurance policies are being arranged by the biggest insurance broker in the world: Marsh. Fun fact: Marsh is also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/04/worlds-largest-insurance-broker-under-pressure-over-support-for-adani-and-other-coal-projects" target="_blank">currently under fire</a> for facilitating insurance for the Adani Carmicheal coal mine in Australia.</p><p>Trans Mountain's insurance policy is up at the end of August, so we are urgently calling on these companies to:</p><ul><li>Publicly commit to not renew their insurance policy for Trans Mountain for 2020-21;<br></li><li>Moving forward, rule out insurance for all tar sands extraction and transport projects and companies;<br></li><li>Adopt a policy to ensure that projects and companies they insure have obtained the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of impacted communities.</li></ul><p>We've made some progress. In late June, <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/environmental/talanx-group-dropping-support-for-trans-mountain-pipeline-226532.aspx" target="_blank">Talanx indicated</a> that it already dropped the pipeline, and Munich Re signaled that it will not renew its policy. These two German insurers recently adopted policies restricting tar sands business. </p><p>A global coalition of environmental NGOs, First Nations, and insurance campaigners is demanding that the rest of Trans Mountain's insurers follow suit and stop being complicit in the violation of Indigenous rights, spread of COVID-19, and the desecration of sacred waterways and the global climate.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/elana-sulakshana" target="_blank">Elana Sulakshana</a> leads <a href="https://www.ran.org/" target="_blank">Rainforest Action Network</a>'s campaign pressuring the U.S. insurance industry to stop making the climate crisis worse. She has been active in the climate justice movement for the last eight years, most recently organizing for just and equitable climate policy in Washington State, fighting fracking in the U.K., and campaigning for universities to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in communities.</em></p><p><em></em><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/07/04/whos-insuring-trans-mountain-pipeline" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
How an Environmental Justice Documentary Is Building Solidarity in the Midst of the Racial and Health Crisis
23 June
Sponsored
Indigenous leaders, environmental groups, interfaith and divestment coalitions are hosting online events, utilizing the film to support frontline and impacted communities. Courtesy / The Condor & The Eagle
By Tracy L. Barnett
A soon-to-be-released feature film exemplifies how independent media initiatives can be powerful tools for social and environmental justice organizing. Challenging the isolation and impotence that many are feeling in the face of the current health and racial crises, the internationally acclaimed documentary The Condor & The Eagle and its impact campaign "No More Sacrificed Communities" bring us together in these challenging times – reminding us of our deep interconnectedness with the Earth and one another.
<p>As we work to prevent the spread of COVID-19, environmental racism is presenting a deadly parallel threat for Indigenous peoples across North and South America, who continue to defend the lands and waters, protecting their communities from extraction and the pandemic. Meanwhile, the climate crisis has not paused as we battle racialized violence and COVID-19. On the contrary, as countries ease restrictions, emissions levels have rebounded to just 5% lower than last year at this time, and experts warn that we could be facing increased emissions by year's end. Meanwhile those at the front lines of the struggle for climate justice are battling disproportionately high rates of infection from Covid-19 while facing heightened risks of violence and illness from the extractive industries.</p>
<iframe title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/359405536" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A PROFOUND WORK OF CLIMATE JOURNALISM
<p>Oscar-winning editor and producer Douglas Blush says: "This documentary takes the struggle for climate justice beyond the standard borders of separate nations using thrilling cinematography, deeply personal stories and the urgency of tomorrow's headlines. <em>The Condor & The Eagle</em> is both a profound work of climate journalism and an exhilarating, emotional adventure film."<br></p><p>The recent burning of the Amazon, the mega-fires in Australia, and the current political climate bode ill for our planet's future habitability. But there is hope. This internationally acclaimed documentary chronicles the ongoing collective climate awakening and the imperative of urgent change. The film asks how social change happens, and explores best practices for building effective social movements, led by the most affected. As world climate scientists predict unprecedented global catastrophe, <em>The Condor & The Eagle</em> features Indigenous women leaders at the head of an unparalleled global response.</p>
<p>Four Indigenous leaders embark on an extraordinary transcontinental adventure from the Canadian boreal forests to deep into the heart of the Amazonian jungle to unite the peoples of North and South America and deepen the meaning of "climate justice." <em>The Condor & The Eagle</em> offers a glimpse into a developing spiritual renaissance as the film's four protagonists learn from each other's long legacy of resistance to colonialism and its extractive economy.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwODM0Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzYxNzU5MH0.Oo9RwKPqrIS9q6Iz8Y2n0S9sxXZNQGiJOvfrAhwRI1U/img.png?width=980" id="bb09c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1a78d9f6c7bf91cd36016a49392517f5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, left, with Melina Laboucan_Massimo, Lubicon Cree First Nation of Alberta, in the front row of the half-million-strong People's Climate March in New York, 2014. Screenshot / The Condor & The Eagle
IMPACT CAMPAIGN: "NO MORE SACRIFICED COMMUNITIES"
<p>Indigenous leaders, environmental groups (including Amazon Watch, Sierra Club, Extinction Rebellion), divestment and interfaith coalitions (including Interfaith Power and Light, Unitarian Universalists) are <a href="https://thecondorandtheeagle.com/events/" target="_blank">hosting impressive online events</a>, presenting the film to large audiences along with a live-screen discussion with film and movement protagonists. In the weeks and months ahead, the film's impact campaign, "No More Sacrificed Communities," will explore how media highlighting the voices from impacted communities can compel a shift from witnessing environmental destruction to practical actions for sustainable, community-based initiatives.</p> <p>Each of more than a dozen online events is hosted by a different organization and offers the opportunity to raise funds for key environmental justice groups and impacted communities that are leading the charge against destructive fossil fuel projects.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwODM1NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTY1OTE4MH0.Z6ZOvelXtSKYGx_LNFr4MyUq6JtvMnTJxECCHLfKsko/img.png?width=980" id="fc2b5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4271ef679acb20176c4ba3d69d20652e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
At the Red Nation International Film Festival. Left to right: Festival director Joanelle Romero, co-director Clement Guerra, film protagonist Bryan Parras, Executive Producer Jacqueline Garcia and Impact Partner Kat Lo, Eaton Workshop.
INTERNATIONAL FILM RELEASE
<p>Since its premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival in October 2019, <em>The Condor & the Eagle</em> has been selected by more than 50 film festivals and has won 12 awards, most notably Best Environmental Documentary at the 2019 Red Nation International Film Festival in Beverly Hills, California.<br></p> <p>The film's international release date is set for Wednesday, July 1, and it will be available for rent on the <a href="https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the-condor-and-the-eagle/" target="_blank">Films For Action</a> website. That day also marks the film's Latin American premiere with "<a href="https://event.webinarjam.com/register/93/xyg1yuw9?fbclid=IwAR2pNe5jKZJ3jXlmHROc8ifD1JtxQkKNG1QB2xx41WST7XrL7knai_kGnHU" target="_blank">Defending the Defenders of the Mother Earth / Defendiendo las Defensoras de la Madre Tierra</a>," a bilingual screening event featuring Bertha "Bertita" Zúñiga Cáceres of Honduras, daughter of the environmental martyr Berta Cáceres, and the director, among others.</p>A MESSAGE FROM THE FILMMAKERS
<p>The film was directed and produced by Clement Guerra, a 37-year-old French international marketing manager, and his German wife Sophie. The couple left their comfortable careers in Europe and took their savings to live in a camper van and spend five years documenting the Indigenous-led climate justice movement.</p><p>"We don't want to be 'extractivist' filmmakers, but rather ones who work hand-in-hand with communities," Clement told The Esperanza Project in a recent interview, <a href="https://www.esperanzaproject.com/2020/native-american-culture/the-condor-the-eagle-takes-flight/" target="_blank"><em>The Condor & The Eagle' Takes Flight</em></a>. "On a personal level, this whole experience helped us face our own privilege, and we quickly realized that the pollution outside reflected the ego-toxicity we are carrying on the inside. We have been conditioned to believe that we are skin-encapsulated egos, that we are each an 'I' separate from every other 'I.' Thanks to our journey and the process of making this film, we came to realize that we all depend on each other; we are not separate."<br></p><p>You can support the team impact work <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=W44L44WM4ELDW&source=url" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</p><iframe title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/417898062" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Federal Judge Orders Trump Admin to Give Native Americans Their Withheld Stimulus Money
18 June
Politics
A family that has no running water sits outside their home in the Navajo Nation town of Thoreau, New Mexico on May 22, 2020. MARK RALSTON / AFP via Getty Images
Frustrated and disgusted that it has taken so long for the Department of the Treasury to distribute Federal stimulus funds to Native American tribes, a federal judge ordered Secretary Steve Mnuchin to distribute the money immediately, according to HuffPost.
<p>The judge said that the Native Americans should have received their portion of the CARES Act months ago when other Americans received theirs.</p><p>The decision from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta was particularly critical of Mnuchin's decision to hold back $679 million in funding set aside for tribes while waiting on a decision in another case that will determine whether tribal businesses are eligible for the funding, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>"Continued delay in the face of an exceptional public health crisis is no longer acceptable," said Mehta, who gave Mnuchin until Wednesday to disburse the funds, as <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tribes-covid-relief-treasury-department_n_5ee9093fc5b674996b9be1d9" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> reported.</p><p>"The Secretary has now taken more than twice as much time as Congress directed to distribute all CARES Act funds," Mehta wrote, referring to the $2.2 trillion March legislation that earmarked $8 billion for tribal governments, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. "The 80 days they have waited, when Congress intended receipt of emergency funds in less than half that time, is long enough."</p>
<p>The money is desperately needed, as the Navajo Nation saw the largest spike in COVID-19 cases per capita in the nation and access to clean water and reliable healthcare remain limited for many tribes.</p><p>As a result of the delayed payments, the Navajo Nation has not been able to develop adequate COVID-19 response and protection plans, like hazard pay for employees and sanitation of buildings and businesses on the largest reservation in the country, according to Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, as <a href="https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/06/17/we-got-these-monies-late-trump-administr.asp" target="_blank">IndianZ</a> reported.</p><p>Nez stressed that the delay is significant since the CARES Act requires the tribes' money to be spent by Dec. 31.</p><p>"There's a timeline on this," Nez said, as as <a href="https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/06/17/we-got-these-monies-late-trump-administr.asp" target="_blank">IndianZ</a> reported. "We need to get those dollars to all the tribes across the country so they can help their citizens. We are wanting to use these dollars for the immediate needs."</p>
<p>When Congress set aside $8 billion for tribes when it passed the CARES Act stimulus package in late March, it directed the Treasury Department to distribute the money by April 26. That never happened. In late May, Treasury distributed about half the money, while most of the remaining money was sent out last Friday, as <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tribes-covid-relief-treasury-department_n_5ee9093fc5b674996b9be1d9" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> reported.</p><p>"Sovereign Nations shouldn't have to fight for money that Congress approves, ever. It's shameful that a judge has to force the Treasury to do their job," Rep. Deb Haaland, a New Mexico Democrat and co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, said on Twitter, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p>
<p>Much of the delay is attributed to the Treasury Department's overwhelming incompetence in dealing with Native American tribes and its initial maneuver to distribute stimulus money to Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs).</p><p>ANCs, which are not government entities, have enormous land holdings and secure significant profits from timber and oil sales. Judge Mehta blocked the Treasury Department from giving money to them.</p><p>According to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding" target="_blank">The Hill</a>, ANCs have appealed and the case is still unresolved, but Mehta said Mnuchin has not been directed to reserve any funding for them.</p><p>"That amount is being withheld of the Secretary's own accord," Mehta wrote in his decision. "The Secretary's withholding of $672 million 'to resolve any potentially adverse decision in litigation' ... simply cannot be justified."</p>
<p>Lawmakers praised Mehta's decision and expressed anger that the Treasury Department has treated Native Americans so dismissively.</p><p>"The Court is absolutely correct: this administration has and continues to do 'irreparable harm' to Indian Country as it inexplicably holds back funds that Congress intended to get to Tribal governments urgently," Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat and vice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, told <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tribes-covid-relief-treasury-department_n_5ee9093fc5b674996b9be1d9" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> in a statement. "It continues to be a shameful scandal that the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump administration</a> has dawdled with this funding while people in Native communities are getting sick and dying, and while businesses and essential services are shuttering."</p><p>"It is unconscionable that it has taken court action to force this administration to distribute relief to Tribal governments as Congress intended and the law requires," said Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat and chairman of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States on the House Natural Resources Committee, as <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tribes-covid-relief-treasury-department_n_5ee9093fc5b674996b9be1d9" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> reported.</p>
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The Sumas Pump Station on June 13, 2020, prior to clean-up. Transmountain
Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline spilled as many as 190,000 liters (approximately 50,193 gallons) of crude oil in Abbotsford, British Columbia (BC) Saturday, reinforcing concerns about the safety of the pipeline's planned expansion.
<p>Chief Dalton Silver of the Sumas First Nation told <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/trans-mountain-oil-spill-released-roughly-150-000-litres-of-oil-company-says-1.4983835" target="_blank">CTV News</a> that the spill occurred on his reserve on fields over an aquifer that supplies his nation with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a>. It marks the fourth time in 15 years that the pipeline has spilled on his community's land.</p><p>"We cannot continue to have our land desecrated by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spills</a>," he said in a <a href="https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/stop_tmx_devastating_trans_mountain_pipeline_spill_reinforces_urgency_to_halt_further_expansion" target="_blank">statement</a> issued by the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) Sunday.</p>
<div id="82ac1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ac200d03077ca023966ba862e3cfdef5"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272235491601989632" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Stop TMX: Devastating Trans Mountain Pipeline Spill Reinforces Urgency to Halt Further Expansion: “Trans Mountain p… https://t.co/ONHM3G30Ub</div> — UBCIC (@UBCIC)<a href="https://twitter.com/UBCIC/statuses/1272235491601989632">1592159552.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The spill occurred early Saturday morning at the pipeline's Sumas Pump Station, Trans Mountain told <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trans-mountain-pipeline-spill-abbotsford-150000-190000-litres-1.5611973" target="_blank">CBC News</a>. The company said no construction work related to the pipeline's expansion was being done at the time of the spill.</p><p>Instead, the spill appeared to have been connected to a fitting on a smaller piece of pipe attached to the main line, the company said in a <a href="https://www.transmountain.com/news/2020/statement-from-trans-mountain" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p>"The cause of the incident is under investigation and that will continue," company spokesperson Ali Hounsell told CTV News. "At this time, it's believed to be a failure of a small-diametre, one-inch piece of pipe."</p><p>The company estimated that between 940 to 1,195 barrels (or 150,000 to 190,000 liters) of oil was released and fully contained.</p>
<div id="3cd98" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="120d2d202c4507d1e916ba246dac3556"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272267142516191234" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Update from Trans Mountain: Company estimates btwn 940 and 1195 barrels of oil was lost in spill at Sumas Pumping S… https://t.co/MU30LHnAEd</div> — Ben Miljure (@Ben Miljure)<a href="https://twitter.com/CTVNewsBen/statuses/1272267142516191234">1592167099.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Clean-up is well underway with trucks and crews working around the clock," the company said in a Sunday afternoon statement. "The free-standing oil has been recovered and is being transported to an approved facility for disposal. The site has permanent groundwater monitoring in place and air monitoring continues. Monitoring has not identified any risk to the public or community."</p><p>The pipeline was initially shut off in response to the spill, but restarted around 2 p.m. local time Sunday.</p><p>The company said it was working with local authorities and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> communities on the clean-up, but Silver told <a href="https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/06/14/trans-mountain-restart-surprises-sumas-chief/" target="_blank">CityNews 1130</a> he had not received timely, accurate updates about the amount spilled or the company's restarting plans.</p><p>"That they're up and running Sunday afternoon, my sister just read that to me off her phone. That was the first I heard of it, so there you go with the openness and transparency," Silver said. "I would really rather hear it from those at the incident command post."</p>
<p>Many Indigenous communities, environmental groups and the BC government oppose the expansion of the pipeline, which would <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-2645043384.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">triple</a> the oil it carries from Alberta's tar sands to the Pacific coast. They are <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-kinder-morgan-2570751996.html" target="_self">concerned</a> about its impact on the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, Indigenous sovereignty, local water supplies and endangered orcas that would be harmed by increased tanker traffic.</p><p>Oil spills have also remained a persistent worry for pipeline opponents.</p><p>"We conducted our own assessment of Trans Mountain using leading science and Tsleil-Waututh's Indigenous law that concluded that oil spills are inevitable, can't be fully cleaned up, and have devastating effects," Chief Leah George-Wilson of Tsleil-Waututh Nation said in the UBCIC statement. "This most recent spill is another reminder that the risk is too great to accept. The Trans Mountain pipeline has already spilled more than 80 times since it began operating. This is why we continue to fight the Trans Mountain Expansion in the courts."</p>
<p>The BC Ministry of Environment told CBC News that Saturday's spill was "deeply concerning."</p><p>"Our government maintains that the TMX project poses unacceptable risks to our environment, our coast and our economy," the ministry in a statement.</p><p>Meanwhile, BC Indigenous communities pledged continuing opposition.</p><p>"The price of oil has plummeted due to decreased demand caused by COVID-19, and yet another pipeline spill is like a nail in the coffin for investors," UBCIC Vice President Chief Don Tom said in a statement. "The ongoing demonstrations across Turtle Island right now show that people are ready to stand up and defend their beliefs including upholding Indigenous Title and Rights. I have no doubt this will extend to the widespread opposition that already exists to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion."</p>
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