Happy Hippies are committed to taking care of each other and our planet. Many of you have supported the #NoDAPL movement in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline threatening water sources, ecosystems and sacred lands, and now we need to continue our support in order to protect the natural resources, wildlife and communities currently at risk.
In 2014, the $4 billion Dakota Access Pipeline project was proposed, designed to transport as many as 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota to Illinois. By early 2016, most permits were granted and construction began by Energy Transfer Partners. The pipeline travels underneath the Missouri River, the primary drinking water source and sacred burial grounds for the Standing Rock Sioux, a tribe of approximately 10,000 with a reservation in the central part of North and South Dakota. As a result, Native Americans have united at the center of opposition against the Dakota Access Pipeline as the risk of leaks and ruptures at oil and gas pipelines could damage the tribe’s water supply. Environmental activists have joined the opposition because the pipeline will contribute to man-made climate change by building up the country’s oil infrastructure.
While construction continued rapidly along most of the pipeline routes, it had been halted temporarily and locally several times by civil disobedience and legal action. Despite the temporary block on construction ordered by the Obama Administration in September 2016, the federal court intervened to allow the project to proceed.
President Trump issued an executive order that allowed for the Army to expedite the approval process for the Dakota Access Pipeline. Despite lawsuits filed by the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River tribes to halt the final piece of the pipeline, the construction company anticipates that oil will begin flowing this week (March 13th) or next (March 20th). In the wake of the February 22nd eviction of the major water protector camps, Oceti Sakowin camp and the Sacred Stones camp, thousands of indigenous people and allies gathered in Washington D.C. on March 10th for the Native Nations Rise March. Comanche, Apache, Navajo, Pueblo, and Sioux; Cree, Ojibwe, Chippewa, Aztec and California tribal nations were all represented. Demonstrators erected a tipi outside Trump International Hotel in the city before the march, where they chanted “We can’t drink oil – Water is life!”. The March was the culmination of a week of workshops, actions, and prayers to battle for native rights. Help continue the momentum by taking action below!
