Tell the Army Corps of Engineers: Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline!

The Army Corps of Engineers has tried to ignore the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux in order to advance the destructive Dakota Access pipeline. Now, it’s being forced to re-evaluate the environmental harm this project will cause.

We need your help to push the Army Corps to listen to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s concerns about the Dakota Access Pipeline!

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To the Army Corps of Engineers:

I am writing today to voice my opinion on what issues and alternatives should be considered in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

I urge the Army Corps of Engineers to respect the sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and engage with them as equal partners in this process. The Corps has consistently ignored the treaty rights of the Tribe, continuing the U.S. government’s shameful history of undermining those rights for the benefit of others. This practice must end, and the Corps must put the treaty rights at the forefront of its process as it begins to conduct the EIS.

The danger posed by the pipeline is acute. Oil pipelines break, spill and leak—and the checkered safety record of operator Energy Transfer Partners is deeply concerning. The Army Corps failed to take a hard look at the impacts of an oil spill on the Tribe, as the law requires. The drinking water for 17 million people downstream also remains at risk each day this pipeline remains in operation. The Corps must subject all safety claims to thorough and independent third party analysis. Throughout this EIS process, the Corps must also engage closely with the Tribe to get their views and share the necessary technical information to address safety hazards.

Furthermore, the EIS needs to consider pipeline routes that don’t place the risks of the pipeline on the Tribe. The pipeline currently runs through unceded ancestral lands of the Tribe — an act of aggression in and of itself — and it is unacceptable to further harm the Tribe without fully studying what that harm will look like.

I also urge the Corps to consider the impacts of the oil DAPL transports. As atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations continue climbing and the planet continues warming, the consequences of our inaction continue escalating. Increased development and deployment of infrastructure that accelerates the extraction of planet-warming fossil fuels will only serve to worsen the climate crisis — which is why we deserve to know how much DAPL will contribute to the problem.

Additionally, the arguments in favor of DAPL no longer hold water. The original reasons cited by Energy Transfer and the Army Corps for approving this pipeline were economic development, energy independence, and national security. Since then, a global pandemic has hit Native American communities especially hard, and climate change has intensified nationwide with increasingly intense hurricanes, wildfires, and drought. The pandemic has also deeply disrupted North Dakota’s oil production. Today, we can see that approving DAPL will not deliver on its stated goals. It’s time to reconsider the need for DAPL and to move forward with solutions fit for the 21st century.

In summary, I urge the Corps to do the following five things as the EIS process moves forward:

1.	Engage the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as equal partners
2.	Respect and center the treaty rights of the Tribe
3.	Look for alternative pipeline routes that do not threaten the Tribe
4.	Consider how the oil flowing through DAPL negatively impacts communities while it’s extracted and how it warms the climate when consumed
5.	Subject safety claims to rigorous, truly-independent third-party scrutiny

It’s time for the Corps to do the right thing and actually study the environmental impacts of the Dakota Access Pipeline in a meaningful and comprehensive way. The Tribe and the public at-large at have a right to know how damaging DAPL is — and I trust the Corps will respect that right.

Sincerely,
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