Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Responds to Keystone Pipeline Permit Approval

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II. Native News Online photo by Randall Slikkers

Published March 26, 2017

CANNON BALL, NORTH DAKOTA — On Friday, President Trump announced that the State Department has issued the final permit necessary to proceed with the Keystone Pipeline. On his second day in office, this President made it his priority to push through two controversial pipelines. The Dakota Access and Keystone lines are dangerous, and were previously halted due to their risks to public safety. Today the battle against Keystone begins again.

“Once again, the treaty lands of the Great Sioux Nation are threatened by Keystone—a perilous pipeline. President Trump has described the proposed pipeline as ‘the greatest technology known to man or woman.’ If that is the case, then I would encourage him to do some research and look at the number of oil spills we’ve experienced throughout this country, the levels of water pollution, and the science behind climate change. This is not the way of the future,” said Chairman Dave Archambault II.

The $8 Billion-dollar Keystone pipeline was previously rejected in 2015, citing negative impacts to energy security, failure to benefit American consumers, threats to climate change, and also an utter lack of sustainable benefit to the economy. Despite the economic arguments used to propel these pipelines forward, less than 50 permanent jobs would be created.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will stand with the many tribes threatened by the Keystone XL pipeline. As the Chairman states, “We opposed Keystone before, and we’ll oppose it again. We’ve seen how the sentiment and worldwide support grew with the ongoing Dakota Access Pipeline battle. While we continue to fight DAPL in court, we will oppose Keystone on all fronts as well. We hope that everyone around the world who stood with Standing Rock on DAPL will continue to stand with us and all the tribes as we continue to fight these dangerous and short-sighted infrastructure projects that serve only the interests of billionaires.”