350 Wenatchee Climate Conversations NCW

The stakes for Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth) remain as high as ever. The year 2022 is on track to be one of the hottest years on record and Standing Rock’s water supply (and that of 17 million others) is still in jeopardy.

That’s why this coming week, I’m traveling to D.C. to meet with key decision-makers, including U.S. senators sympathetic to our cause. We will discuss the unjust state of affairs at Standing Rock: still there has not been an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) published by the Army Corps of Engineers on the Dakota Access Pipeline, which means the pipeline has no permit and is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Why? Because the company hired by the federal government to do the assessment was among those who joined a lawsuit against Standing Rock early in the NoDAPL movement. Of course, we do not accept this, so we’re at a stand-still for the moment. The Army Corps has now postponed the release of their flawed EIS until next year, so that gives us more time to fight back and demand that a decent company conduct a new assessment.

As you’re aware, Big Oil has a stranglehold on American politics. Wind power is the cheapest energy source available today; there’s enough wind in the Dakotas and Texas alone to power the entire United States. But instead of shifting aggressively to clean technologies, we’re allowing the fossil fuel industry to bully us into greater investments in our own destruction. Indigenous voices must remain strong to counteract these forces of greed and narrow self-interest that plague our nation and world at this time. We will continue doing what we can, with your support!

Sincerely,

Janet Alkire

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairperson