It’s not if a pipeline will leak, it’s when

Battling the Black Snake

The coming of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines have fulfilled the Lakota prophecy of a terrible black snake meant to bring harm to the people of Turtle Island. Our Native organizers stand on the front lines every day to protect the sacred systems of Unci Maka, our Grandmother Earth. Mni Wiconi—water is life!

Breaking news: Yesterday, the Keystone pipeline spilled again. This highlights the need to thank those of you who recently wrote to the North Dakota Public Service Commission requesting a public hearing on the potential doubling of oil carried by the Dakota Access pipeline. I am very happy to say that, along with the Standing Rock Tribe’s official intervention, your voice helped compel the Commission to schedule that hearing. It’s coming up next week — on Wednesday, November 13th at 9 a.m. at Emmons County Courthouse in Linton, right across the river from Standing Rock.

Now, particularly in light of yet another pipeline spill, I ask you to join four Great Sioux Nation tribal chairmen and our allies around the world in telling the Commission to VOTE NO on this dangerous DAPL expansion. Even if you can’t make it to North Dakota, you can still be heard! Use this form to send an email to the PSC, show your solidarity, and make sure the commission knows it must not further imperil our sacred lands and water. Please stand again with Standing Rock — wherever you are.

This expansion would be a reckless act of greed. As you’ll see in our video, leaders from the Oglala, Rosebud, and Cheyenne River Nations stand with us against this new danger to our people and Mother Earth. We must not be silenced. We must be strong and united in our message to the PSC: all due diligence should be conducted; the tribes, and allies like you, should be heard; the Earth should be respected.

Wopila tanka and mni wiconi — Thank you. Water is life.
Charles Walker
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council
Via the Lakota People’s Law Project

Join Standing Rock’s call: Send the following message to the North Dakota Public Service Commission, and tell them you say NO to the expansion of the Dakota Access pipeline. This link will send the following letter to them. https://www.lakotalaw.org/our-actions/no-dapl-expansion

Dear Commissioner Brian Kroshus,
Thank you for respecting the desires of the nearly 20,000 people who sent you messages three months ago requesting a hearing on the proposed expansion of the Dakota Access pipeline. I write today to ask you to deny that expansion.
By doing so, you can demonstrate your concern for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose intervention in this process signals its desire to prevent further danger to its ancestral lands and sole source of drinking water. Millions of others downstream, in addition to Standing Rock tribal members, also face danger.
I would remind the Commission that, at its current flow rate, this pipeline has already leaked at least 11 times. Any additional pressure on the Dakota Access pipeline should be fully vetted. Indeed, U.S. regulators say they don’t have data showing that expansion of pipeline capacity is safe; we have only talking points from the oil industry to rely upon.
Moreover, the threat to water is just one downside of this expansion plan. Doubling DAPL’s flow would lead to 97,886,550 more tons of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere each year. At a time when 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change represents an existential threat to the entire planet, we should be shifting to reliance on renewable energy, not expanding dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure.
The Commission would be showing a blatant disregard for public health and safety should it greenlight this project without requiring detailed environmental impact and leak safety studies. Please listen to tribal citizens, respect your constituents, and VOTE NO on doubling DAPL’s oil flow.

Keystone pipeline leaks again

BISMARCK, N.D. — A pipeline that carries tar sands oil from Canada through seven states has leaked an unknown amount of crude oil over more than quarter-mile swath in northeastern North Dakota, state environmental regulators said Wednesday.
State Environmental Quality Chief Dave Glatt told The Associated Press that regulators were notified late Tuesday night of the leak near Edinburg, in Walsh County. Glatt said pipeline owner TC Energy shut down the pipeline after the leak was detected. The cause of the spill is under investigation.
The Calgary, Alberta-based company formerly known as TransCanada did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment Wednesday.
State regulators were on the scene Wednesday afternoon, and they estimated that the area of the spill was 1,500 feet long by 15 feet wide. Glatt said some wetlands were affected, but not any sources of drinking water.
Keystone pipeline leaks oil in northeastern North Dakota By James MacPherson | AP Oct. 30, 2019

Here in Iowa Dakota Access is proposing increased flow of oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Dakota Access Proposes to Increase Oil Flowing Through Iowa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 13, 2019, 12:00 p.m. CT
Contact: Ed Fallon at (515) 238-6404 or ed@boldiowa.com
Website: www.boldiowa.com

Dakota Access Proposes to Increase Oil Flowing Through Iowa
Bold Iowa responds, requesting public hearing in Story County

DES MOINES, IOWA — Dakota Access (DA) announced in a filing yesterday to the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) that it plans to increase the amount of oil flowing through its pipeline across Iowa by altering the pump station near Cambridge, Iowa, in Story County just north of Des Moines. DA claims it needs no additional authorization from the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to proceed. Bold Iowa disagrees and today filed a response, requesting that the IUB schedule a public hearing in Story County.

Bold Iowa’s filing states, “Dakota Access’s proposal raises so many unanswered questions it is not possible for Bold Iowa, the general public, the IUB, nor concerned state and local elected officials to fully grasp the impact of the proposed expansion without adequate time and study. The involvement of landowners along the route, Story County residents, and all Iowans concerned about the broader impacts of the pipeline is essential. Thus, Bold Iowa requests that the IUB hold a public hearing in Story County where DA officials and IUB representatives are available to answer any and all questions from Iowans who have concerns about DA’s proposed expansion.”

http://boldiowa.com/dakota-access-proposes-to-increase-oil-flowing-through-iowa/