Just minutes after the Santa Fe Solidarity with Standing Rock demonstration dispersed, I got word from Jeff Haas in North Dakota. We have won. Easement denied. An overjoyed Standing Rock community has erupted into joyful celebration.
In remarkable news, the Corps of Engineers has denied the easement. Click here for photos, video and details. But we won!
Certainly, Trump will try to reverse this, but that process could take through all of 2017 and by then it is possible the financing will disappear.
Whatever, our work is not done, but what a piece of news to get when just getting home from the inspiring march with my Santa Fe brothers and sisters. Details on the march in another blog, but a few hundred folks marched from the cemetery to Wells Fargo with complete cooperation and THUMBS UP from the police and almost all the passing cars. The mayor spoke as did many others from the Veterans and Indigenous community. It was amazing.
The march was covered by both Channel 13 and Channel 4 and by the New Mexican, so expect good coverage. If only we had known about the news while at the march. They would have heard the cheers in North Dakota.
We need to stick together, friends. We have so many battles to fight. But for, lets let the tears of joy flow and enjoy the moment. But once done with celebration, we need to turn our attention to fracking in Chaco Canyon. Details on actions you can take to stop tracking near Chaco Canyon will be in the next blog.
We won. Goddammit. Maybe we can make this democracy thing work, after all.
Categories: Actions, Activist Organizations, Civil Disobedience, Indigenous Rights, Standing Rock
Woot! Woot!!
Sent from my iPhone
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Thank you for this great news! I am far away in Thailand right now, but I am celebrating with you all in spirit!!!
Thanks for all your great efforts, Paul.
A fabulous launch, Paul!!! Great work.
Lissa ♥ ♥ ♥
Lissa Reidel Lissa@LissaReidel.com http://www.lissareidel.com/ http://www.bloginni.com/ https://twitter.com/Muktanini 628 Camino Rancheros Santa Fe, NM 87505 505-995-1147
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I guess we can believe it. We need to…
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I think it is premature to say the Water Protectors have won. The Army Corp decision to deny an easement and “explore alternate routes” asks for an Environmental Impact Statement to be completed before moving forward. That Environmental Impact Statement is likely to take several months, but the end result may well be to allow Energy Transfer Partners to move forward, building on the current site or very near it. This would be consistent with the Army Corps’ past treatment of native people. This could be a strategic move: wait till public outcry dies down and the veterans have all gone home from North Dakota, then run roughshod over tribal rights.
The Water Protectors are hunkering down for a long winter on the prairie, and I do not think it is time to fold up our tents in Santa Fe, either. I will be continuing to organize weekly boycotts of Phillips 66/Conoco here locally, to attempt to reach the corporate powers behind the pipeline. I hope that Retake Our Democracy might join us. https://www.meetup.com/Santa-Fe-Environment-Meetup/events/236057415/
Come next Monday, Dec. 12 to the Phillips station at 100 N. St. Francis. Bring a sign encouraging motorists to send a message at the pump. Boycott Phillips / Conoco. Support Standing Rock.
I couldn’t agree more with your comments, Gary. Even in the best case scenario, the pipeline has to re-route and so it dislocates, disrupts or despoils, some other farmer, native, small town, or whatever. And even if they invented the spill proof pipeline, it is still transporting oil or gas. Bottom line, we need to start thinking about keeping it in the ground, not getting creative about transporting it.
I would encourage you to get involved with our Research Team, Gary. You obviously have both a knack for, grasp of and passion about climate change and indigenous rights. Please come on the 11th and help work with others to really build a thoughtful, research-based inventory of compelling info. Much to do.