TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A majority of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council on Aug. 19 indicated it would stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Nation throughout its opposition to the Dakota pipeline access project.
The Cherokee Nation is the country’s largest American Indian tribe and 15 of that nation’s 17 legislators said they support the Standing Rock Sioux’s peaceful demonstration. The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile-long pipeline would cross Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, and would disturb burial grounds and sacred sites on ancestral treaty lands.
Tribal Councilor Jack D. Baker, a noted historian, said the company constructing the pipeline has failed to recognize environmental and historical preservation issues.
“I am opposed to the Dakota pipeline,” said Baker. “They have refused to comply with an environmental assessment and have refused to consult with the tribal nations, including the Cherokee Nation under Section 106 for Historic Preservation. They will be crossing the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in southern Illinois. Without a consultation, it is not known what effect it could have on our forced removal route.”
Joe Byrd, Tribal Council speaker and vice president of the Eastern Oklahoma Region of the National Congress of American Indians, pointed out the lack of consultation infringes on the tribe’s sovereignty as a nation.
“They have not respected the Standing Rock Sioux as a federally recognized tribe, with all the rights the treaties they have signed affords them as a sovereign nation,” said Byrd. “The pipeline could present both environmental hazards to Native people, as well as possibly having a harmful impact on ancestral lands.”
According to the Standing Rock Sioux’s website, the tribe “stands by its right to self-government as a sovereign nation, which includes taking a government-to-government stance with the states and federal government entities. Having signed treaties as equals with the United States Government in 1851 and in 1868, which established the original boundaries of the Great Sioux Nation. The tribe staunchly asserts these treaty rights to remain steadfast and just as applicable today as on the day they were made.”
The NCAI issued a statement Aug. 18 in support of the Standing Rock Sioux.
“The Dakota Access Pipeline is another chapter in a long history of constructing hazardous pipeline routes through tribal lands without respecting tribal sovereignty,” states the release. “Pipeline projects, and the risks associated with pipeline ruptures, have irreversible harmful impacts on cultural places, aquifers and the environment. As first stewards of this land, tribes fully understand that protecting our water and natural resources is paramount. Any resource development must be done as tribes see fit, so these projects can coexist with our traditions and cultures to ensure that our resources are preserved for future generations.”
According to a recent article from the Associated Press, a federal district court in North Dakota granted a temporary restraining order earlier in the week against the protesters, citing “safety concerns.”
