ActionAid USA signed the following letter in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the movement to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The letter was delivered to President Barack Obama on December 2, 2016.
For more information contact: Lorette Picciano, Rural Coalition, lpicciano@ruralco.org, 202-‐628-‐7160; or John Zippert, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, jzippert@aol.com, or 205-‐657-‐0573.
December 1, 2016
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned organizations, call on you to protect water, uphold sovereignty, and end immediately the violence against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its supporters by denying the outstanding easement required for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross the Missouri River. Construction of a pipeline considered unsafe for the community of Bismarck, ND should not be permitted to continue, desecrating burial sites on stolen Sioux land and endangering the supply of fresh water for the Sioux people and millions of others living in the Missouri and lower Mississippi River watershed.
We stand with the Standing Rock Sioux people and their supporters in the face of unjust and aggressive attacks and the denial of their rights to free speech and assembly. The US Army Corps of Engineers, which has allowed the continued flooding and desecration of tribal lands of the Standing Rock Sioux and many other tribal nations, has issued an order evicting the water protectors. Yet the Army Corps lacks the authority to remove those assembled on this land and the order serves only to escalate the violence against the water protectors.
Therefore, we urge you to protect the protectors of this sacred land and water by de-‐escalating and demilitarizing the law enforcement response that endangers life and safety and by reversing the Army Corps’ eviction notice seeking to close all lands north of the Cannonball River. We also call on you to dispatch federal monitors from the Department of Justice to uphold their rights of free speech and assembly, and to investigate the abuses that have occurred.
Our organizations, representing communities deeply rooted in their connection to the land, join the wider call for a full resolution of these injustices and protection of this sacred land and water. We strongly support the position of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in its response to the Army Corps that “the only way to protect people is to deny the last outstanding easement required for the pipeline to cross the Missouri River.”
We call on you in your final days as President to deny the easement immediately, revoke the permits, and order a full Environmental Impact Statement and formal consultation with impacted tribal governments. Only in this way will the current and future protection of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, their supporters and this vital land and water be assured.
Sincerely yours,
Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural – Washington, DC
National Family Farm Coalition – Washington, DC
National Hmong American Farmers, Inc. – Fresno, CA
National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association – Washington, DC
Taos County Economic Development Corporation(TCEDC) – Taos, NM
21st Century Youth Leadership Movement – AL
ActionAid USA – Washington, DC
Alabama State Association of Cooperatives – Forkland, AL
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Inc. – Thousand Palms, CA
American Federation of Government Employees Local 3354 – St. Louis, MO
Atrisco Land Rights Council – Atrisco, NM
California Institute for Rural Studies – Davis, CA
Community Alliance for Global Justice – Seattle, WA
Community Farm Alliance – Berea, KY
Community Food and Justice Coalition – Oakland, CA
Cottage House, Inc. – Ariton, AL
Darby Springs Farm – Ceresco, NE
Farmworker Association of Florida – Apopka, FL
Federation of Southern Cooperatives Rural Training and Research Center – Epes, AL
Food First – Oakland, CA
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement – Des Moines, IA
Indian Country Agriculture and Resource Development Corporation (ICARD) – Anadarko, OK
Grassroots International – Boston, MA
Indian Nations Conservation Alliance – Twin Bridges, MT
Land Stewardship Project – MN
Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society – Ceresco, NE
Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance – Gloucester, MA
Northwest Forest Worker Center – Albany, CA
Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project – Oklahoma City, OK
Organización en California de Lideres Campesinas, Inc. (Lideres Campesinas) – Oxnard, CA
Other Worlds – Oakland, CA
Pesticide Action Network – Oakland, CA
PLBA Housing Development Corporation – Eutaw, AL
Roots of Change – Oakland, CA
Rural Advancement Fund – Orangeburg, SC
Slow Food Nebraska
Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville – Louisville, KY
The Center for Family Farm Development, Inc. – Decatur, GA
US Food Sovereignty Alliance – New York City, NY
WhyHunger – New York, NY
National Farmers Union – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Union Paysanne – Montreal, Quebec, Canada
La Union Nacional de Organizaciones Regionales Campesinas Autonomas (UNORCA) – México
