gothhabiba:

‘Keystone XL is dead!’

Dallas Goldtooth wrote on Twitter: “We took on a multi-billion dollar corporation and we won!!”

Indian Country Today

(9 June 2021)

You may have heard that the Keystone XL pipeline project, which environmentalist and First Nations protestors have been fighting for years, has been cancelled by developer TC Energy after Biden revoked its permit (in January 2021).

Despite this victory, First Nations/Sioux water protecters High Elk and Jasilyn Charger are still facing criminal charges for protesting the construction of this pipeline. High Elk faces 23 years and Jasilyn faces a year of jail time after their arrest in January 2021.

You can sign a petition to drop the charges against them (dated Jan 2021, updated March 25 2021) here (and watch this space for updates and requests for protesters to attend court dates). There is also a GoFundMe campaign to support Roots Camp (which was set up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in protest of the Keystone XL Pipeline, and will remain as the pipes are removed) and to help fight the charges against High Elk and Jasilyn (updated 23 January 2021). See here for more ways to help (including joining the camp and donating supplies).

This victory is not a permanent one. The Keystone pipeline has been cancelled and reinstated in the past.

“We know they’ll be back, the oil companies,“ said Harold Frazier, the chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in northern South Dakota. "We could have another president just four years from now. So it’s kind of a temporary relief.”

As long as the U.S. president has the authority to issue cross-border permits for piplines (such as the permit that Trump issued for Keystone XL), any president (including Biden) could reinstate approval for it without warning. The pipeline was revoked solely on presidential authority and not for any reason that references First Nations sovereignty or the project’s illegality. That’s why there is currently (as of 2 June 2021) a lawsuit challenging the president’s authority to do this.

You can read more about the history of this pipline here.

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is not being shut down, having been allowed by the Biden administration to continue running (article dated 21 May 2021).

"It’s not about canceling one extractive project or another. It’s about ignoring our sovereignty,” said Angeline Cheek, an Indigenous justice organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, who is from the Fort Peck Reservation.

“Keystone was canceled, but DAPL still exists. What is the logic in that?” Cheek said.

This overturns a decision last year (July 2020) to halt the running of the pipeline pending an environmental review. You can read updates on the Standing Rock Sioux litigation against the pipeline here.

Given the ever-evolving nature of the situation involving these pipelines, it seems irresponsible to share news about Keystone XL’s cancellation without history, action items, or things to keep an eye on.

As of 10 June 2021, I’m not able to find any updates more recent than 27 March (including about High Elk’s court date on 28 April). Please do add on here if you can dig anything up.