South Dakota Wants to Pass Make America Great Again Resolution

Attorney: Matthew L. Campbell, Wesley James Furlong, Dan Lewerenz

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes) in coordination with their counsel, the Native American Rights Fund, on September 10, 2018, sued the Trump Administration for numerous violations of the law in the Keystone Forty pipeline permitting process. The Tribes asked the court to rescind the illegal issuance of the Keystone XL pipeline presidential permit. On October 16, 2020, the court held that the President's permit just applied to the edge and not the entire pipeline, only that the tribes could sue the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its KXL permitting. On November 17, 2020, the Tribes filed a federal lawsuit confronting the United States Department of Interior and the BLM over their January 2020 issuing of the KXL permit.

In a huge success for the tribes, people, and sacred places in the path of the proposed pipeline, TransCanada (TC Free energy) announced in June 2021 that it is terminating its Keystone XL pipeline projection.

Case Updates

June 9, 2021

On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, TransCanada (TC Free energy) announced that it is terminating its Keystone XL pipeline project. This is smashing news for the tribes, people, and sacred places in the path of the proposed pipeline.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney One thousand. Bordeaux responded to the proclamation, "This is bang-up news for the Tribes who have been fighting to protect our people and our lands. The treaties and laws guarantee us protections, and we are committed to meet that those laws are upheld."

Fort Belknap Indian Community President Andy Werk also commented, "The TransCanada declaration is a relief to those of us who stood in the pipeline'southward path. Nosotros were not willing to sacrifice our water or safety for the financial benefit of a trans-national corporation. We are thrilled that the project has been canceled."

Jan 20, 2021

On Jan 20, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order revoking the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline permit issued by the Trump administration. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes) forth with their counsel, the Native American Rights Fund, applaud the Biden administration'south action to revoke the illegally issued KXL allow.

Early in his presidency, President Trump fabricated it a priority to event permits for the questionable KXL project without the required tribal consultation, environmental review, or consideration for treaty rights. It was a breathy endeavor to prioritize corporate interests over the health and well-being of the region's citizens and tribes' potency to govern their lands and protect their citizens.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney M. Bordeaux spoke to the KXL effect, "In approving the Keystone 40 pipeline, the federal government repeatedly ignored treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, and widespread opposition to push forward the interests of a strange oil and gas visitor. Revoking the illegally issued pipeline permit is a start, but nosotros phone call on the Biden administration to exercise more, to become farther, to respect the rights of Native peoples and improve the relationships between tribes and the federal government."

"Our country, water, and people are nether straight threat from the KXL pipeline. Information technology is a project that has moved frontward without regard to legality or condom. Our water sources are threatened by the dirty tar sand crude, our ancestral homelands are in the direct path of the pipeline, and our people already are suffering the furnishings of nearby structure worker homo camps. Revoking the Trump assistants's illegal permit is a necessary first step towards fixing this situation," Fort Belknap Indian Customs President Andrew Werk Jr. explained.

NARF Staff Chaser Matthew Campbell responded to the activeness, "The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Customs have both poured tremendous effort and resources to defend their treaty rights and the prophylactic of their tribal communities' during the concluding few years. President Biden'south action today is an important first step in correcting the draconian condone for tribal sovereignty that has flourished in recent years. We look forward to working with the new assistants to ensure that, going forward, Native peoples are included in decision-making discussions and policy evolution that touch on their land, people, and treaty rights."

With President Trump's illegal permit revoked, the Tribes plan to continue their efforts to ensure that TransCanada, and its proposed Keystone 40 project, follows all applicable laws that are in place to protect tribal people and ancestral lands.

November 17, 2020

On November 17, 2020, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Customs, represented by the Native American Rights Fund and co-counsel, filed a federal lawsuit against the United States Department of Interior (DOI) and the Agency of Land Management (BLM) over their issuing of the KXL permit. Amidst other things, the complaint describes:

Although, the pipeline'due south proposed path crosses the plaintiff tribes' homelands, the tribes take non been consulted as required by constabulary and DOI policy.
In granting the correct-of-way, the BLM failed to analyze and uphold the United States' treaty obligations to protect the Tribes lands and natural resources. The government failed to even evaluate an alternate route to avoids tribal treaty lands.
The government'southward assay does non meaningfully address how an influx of out-of-country construction workers will affect the health, welfare, and safety of tribal members, and in detail Native women and children.
The agencies have not considered the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on either wellness and prophylactic or the global oil markets.
The 2019 supplemental environmental impact statement has numerous issues and shortcomings. Even its maps do non give plenty detail to show impacts on Indian lands.
In their permit application, TransCanada agreed to abide by tribal laws and regulation, which they accept failed to do.

NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Campbell explained, "Before we allow a foreign visitor to build another pipeline to haul dirty tar sands across any American soil, we should be taking a hard look at the possible impact on American country, water, wellness, and condom. For tribal lands, the treaties admittedly require this sort of review. In issuing the Keystone Twoscore let with shoddy and superficial analysis, the federal government not merely didn't practise its chore, information technology did not follow the law."

October 16, 2020

On October sixteen, 2020, the judge ruled against the Tribes on some claims, finding that the President's allow but applied to the border and not the entire pipeline. The court asked for supplemental conference on whether the President had the ramble authority to outcome the let in the kickoff place, which the Tribes are working on now. The court also noted that the Tribes could file a new adapt against the Bureau of Land Direction given it has approved the pipeline in the residual of the Usa.

April xvi, 2020

On Th, April 16, NARF attorneys appeared before Judge Brian Morris of the Usa District Courtroom of Montana for oral arguments in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump. We await a ruling. The court did result an injunction pursuant to the Make clean Water Act in another case that prevents TransCanada from crossing whatever rivers.

April 3, 2020
TransCanada Pushes KXL Construction Despite COVID-19 Threats

On the aforementioned solar day the Trump Administration appear that up to 240,000 people may succumb to the COVID-19 virus, TransCanada appear it is proceeding with KXL pipeline construction. In fact, TransCanada outlined several activities scheduled for April all along the route of the pipeline, non just at the border. With this construction, workers will descend on the communities along the pipeline's proposed path. TransCanada ignores the threat that this influx of people creates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the face of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the Ft. Belknap Indian Customs and Rosebud Sioux Tribe asked the court to grant a temporary restraining order on pipeline construction. The Tribes are asking the courtroom to put a short concur on construction until a hearing scheduled afterward this month.

"Fort Belknap has declared a state of emergency on the reservation considering of the extremely dangerous COVID-19 pandemic and its threat to the health and well-beingness of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribal members," said President Werk of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, "We are very concerned about TransCanada bringing in outside structure workers from all over to build this pipeline within an hour from our reservation."

"Rosebud has issued a curfew, closed businesses, and asked all to shelter in place considering of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nosotros are joined in a fight against an invisible enemy that nosotros now know is highly contagious before its hosts even show symptoms," said President Bordeaux of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, "Based on these extraordinary circumstances, we ask that TransCanada halt any construction during this pandemic."

A two-week delay in the confront of a pandemic would seem like the obvious course of action. Instead, despite the danger to tribal citizens and all of the people living in the area, TransCanada is pushing to quickly build as much of the pipeline as possible. Of grade, they tin then use this ongoing construction as justification for allowing the projection to proceed whether or not the project is legal.

During this fourth dimension of doubt and crisis, NARF is committed to protecting the health, safety, and rights of Native Americans.

March 3, 2020
Tribes Ask Court to Prohibit Construction During Case

In January, TransCanada reported that it would begin Keystone 40 pipeline structure in April despite ongoing questions nearly the projection'due south permitting. These activities could cause irreparable harm to tribal waterways, cultural resources, and minerals in the path of the pipeline's easement.

Therefore, on Monday March 2, 2020, the Fort Belknap Indian Community and Rosebud Sioux Tribe filed a motion for preliminary injunction and asked the court to not permit TransCanada to begin construction of the pipeline while the case is under review. The court'south intervention is needed to protect the Tribes' precious lands, h2o, natural, and cultural resources. Read the memo in support of preliminary injunction.

February 25, 2020
TransCanada Filing Confirms Pipeline Will Cross Indian Country

The Fort Belknap Indian Customs and Rosebud Sioux Tribe, represented by the Native American Rights Fund, continued their fight against the illegal permitting of the Keystone 40 Pipeline with 2 filings in the U.s.a. District Court of Montana. The tribes filed a response to TransCanada's motility for summary judgment and a memorandum in back up of their own motion for fractional summary judgment.

In these filings, the Tribes highlight that TransCanada admitted that the Keystone Forty pipeline would cantankerous Rosebud mineral estates held in trust by the United States. This undisputed fact, that the pipeline would cross Rosebud mineral estates held in trust, has several legal implications:

Trespassing into Rosebud'south mineral estates, held in trust, without Rosebud's consent is a violation of the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties.
The activities described in the project's Environmental Bear on Statement, namely rock ripping, blasting, trenching, top soil removal, and replacement of removed materials as backfill would adversely affect Rosebud'due south mineral estate. Federal agencies have a duty to prevent mineral trespass and protect Indian lands and tribal mineral estates.
TransCanada must comply with Rosebud law. The mineral estates qualify as Indian lands and the Tribe has jurisdiction over them.

The publicly available maps that the Tribes have seen show that the pipeline corridor also would cross Rosebud surface and mineral estates.

Co-ordinate to NARF Staff Chaser Natalie Landreth, "What nosotros take seen in these recent filings is that TransCanada's Keystone Forty pipeline route crosses Rosebud-controlled lands. If and when TransCanada provides sufficient maps of the pipeline's road, we wait that nosotros volition see even more afflicted tribal lands. These lands are Indian lands. As such, they are protected by treaties too as tribal and federal laws. As much every bit they would like to, TransCanada cannot ignore the laws that protect Native American people and lands."

Too in the filings, the Tribes indicate out that, contrary to defendants' arguments, neither the president's foreign diplomacy ability, nor his function every bit commander in primary provide him authority to permit the pipeline. The authorisation to permit the pipeline falls inside Congress'southward exclusive and plenary power to regulate foreign commerce.

December twenty, 2019
Tribes Win KXL Order in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump

On Fri, Dec 20, 2019, NARF and their clients, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Customs (the Tribes) received some great news from a Montana court. The federal court denied the United states federal government's and the TransCanada's (TC Energy) efforts to dismiss the Tribes' example against the KXL Pipeline.

NARF Staff Chaser Natalie Landreth praised the decision, "The court'due south decision ways that ALL of the tribes' claims on the current permits volition proceed. The only claims dismissed are the ones that the Tribes conceded should exist dismissed because they were based on an former allow. So this is a consummate win for the tribes on the motions to dismiss. We look forward to holding the Trump Administration and TransCanada answerable to the Tribes and the applicable laws that must be followed."

NARF Staff Chaser Matthew Campbell besides reacted to the news, "Of course, the treaties were agreed to by the president of the United States and ratified by the Senate, so the treaties clearly apply. The court rightly found that today."

November 13, 2019:

Take Action on the KXL Pipeline

Concluding month, a Keystone Pipeline spill released more than than 383,000 gallons of oil—half of an Olympic pond pool. The spill affected 200,000 square anxiety of wetlands, which could have years to recover—if it e'er does.

Earlier this year, the Keystone pipeline leaked one,800 gallons of oil less than half a mile from the Mississippi River. Workers had to excavate sections of the afflicted pipeline to find and repair the leak.

That leak was nil compared to the 2017 Keystone spill in South Dakota. Information technology poured 407, 000 gallons—almost iii,000,000 pounds—of crude oil into the footing. That spill, non far from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate's reservation, was the second Keystone spill in South Dakota in seven years. This charge per unit of toxic spills is much more frequent than TransCanada predicted and reported to the federal government. TransCanada estimated South Dakota spills at no more than than in one case every 41 years.

Now TransCanada (TC Energy) wants to add more than miles to their leaky Keystone Pipeline. The proposed Keystone 40 (KXL) Pipeline would cross Nebraska, Montana, and S Dakota, including tribal lands. Of course, TransCanada claims that KXL will exist safe, that it will be state of the fine art. Frighteningly, the KXL pipeline design would merely detect 13,000 barrels (535,000 gallons) of tar sands crude leaked in a 24-hour flow. The most contempo leak, large enough to partially fill a swimming pool, was non large enough to trigger the leak detection organisation. This is one of the reasons for the lawsuit. The pipeline is certain to leak (it already has). Those leaks volition be undetected unless/until they are huge.

If you are worried about the KXL pipeline, take activity now. Only until November eighteen, you lot can annotate on the KXL Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) .

This is your last chance to comment on the KXL pipeline.

Below are some talking points and information that you tin can use for crafting your comments.

The pipeline crosses tribal lands, and the treaties must be honored. The US must engage in meaningful tribal consultation and obtain tribal consent.
The SEIS describes adverse ecology impacts from edifice the Keystone Twoscore Pipeline, which supports non building the KXL Pipeline.
The existing Keystone pipeline leaks at a much higher rate than company estimates. Whatsoever new pipeline will leak, information technology is only a question of when.
Any project that crosses tribal lands must be in compliance with tribal laws and regulations.
The dire climatic change findings in the SEIS support the argument confronting the XL pipeline.

This pipeline volition benefit a Canadian company and its shareholders. It'due south a threat to our climate, our drinking h2o, and our safe. It has willfully ignored the pipeline'southward impacts on tribal communities.

Our health and rubber should take priority over companies' profits. Exercise non allow TC Energy and the Trump Administration to ignore their legal and corporate responsibilities to the American people. Have action today.

#HonorTheTreaties

September 17, 2019:

Paramount Network just released a new mini-documentary entitled "Take Activity: Protect Our State." The documentary explores the potential touch of the proposed Keystone Twoscore Pipeline on our client, the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana.

September 13, 2019:

Today, the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Dandy Falls Partition, heard arguments in Rosebud Sioux Tribe five. Trump.

At the hearings, the United states authorities argued that the treaties that the United States signed with tribal nations are not relevant to the Keystone pipeline. In fact, the treaties were created specifically for this sort of violation.

"When the Tribes negotiated their treaties, they gave millions of acres of country to the Us—including, ironically, the country on which the courthouse at present stands. In return, they asked that the United States protect their lands from trespass and their resources from destruction. Today, the Presidents of Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Customs were in federal courtroom to invoke their sacred inheritance from these treaties—because the KXL pipeline is exactly the kind of depredation the Tribes sought to prevent," NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth explained later the hearings.

#HonorTheTreaties

September 6, 2019:

At the end of July, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (the Tribes) filed their response to the defendant's motions to dismiss in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump.

"The federal regime argues that the treaties don't matter. Obviously, that is not the case. Like the United states Constitution, treaties are the police force of the land, and no ane is in a higher place that law," said NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Campbell.

Treaties are more solemn promises between nations. They are also solemn promises between the citizens of those nations. Over the years, the The states government willingly fabricated very specific promises to tribal nations. In exchange for measures similar "safe passage of emigrants" and "peaceful construction of the railroads," the US government and tribal nations signed treaties to preclude intrusion on or destruction of tribal nations' lands and natural resources. The United States formally agreed, among other things, to keep outsiders off Sioux and other tribal nation's territory and protect tribal natural resources. Those treaties are binding to this day, and nosotros expect them to be honored. Rather than honoring these legal obligations, the United States has called to blatantly violate them.

When they entered into treaties with the U.s., the tribal nations meant to protect their natural resources (water, grasslands, and game) and keep people from crossing their lands. The 2019 pipeline approval violates both of these provisions.

Maps issued by TransCanada (TC Energy) clearly show the proposed KXL pipeline crossing tribal lands. They are proposing to practice so without the tribal consent required under the treaty constabulary. The Tribes debate that the 2019 permit, which would allow a Canadian visitor (TransCanada) to build another muddy tar sand crude pipeline across American soil, also creates a substantial risk of

the desecration and destruction of cultural, historic, and sacred sites;
the endangerment of tribal members, specially women and children;
impairment to hunting and fishing resources, as well as the tribal health and economies associated with these activities;
the damage of federally reserved tribal h2o rights and resource;
damage to tribal territory and natural resources in the inevitable event of Pipeline ruptures and spills; and
impairment to the political integrity, economical stability, and health and welfare of the Tribes.

The United States must answer to the Tribes for violations of the treaties and exist instructed to award them. NARF will non allow the US authorities to ignore or forget the agreements made with tribal nations. Neither the president nor wealthy strange corporations are above the laws of our state.

Hearings on the motion to dismiss will be held Thursday, September 12, 2019, in the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls Sectionalisation.

June 7, 2019:

On June six, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a example that sought to revoke the permit for TC Free energy's (TransCanada) Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline. In that instance, brought past a coalition of environmental organizations, the District Court had decided that the federal government did not follow the law when it issued its 2017 permit for the pipeline. The Commune Court blocked pipeline construction until the government and TC Energy met those legal requirements. All structure was stopped.

After the Commune Court'southward determination, President Trump took the extraordinary footstep of revoking the original KXL permit issued by the State Department and issuing a new allow himself. If the President's goal was to avoid complying with the District Court's decision in that case, information technology worked. With the original permit revoked, the 9th Circuit yesterday decided to dismiss every bit moot the case based on that original permit. The injunction blocking KXL structure has at present been lifted.

However, for the Tribes, the KXL fight is just kickoff. The Fort Belknap Indian Community and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, represented by the Native American Rights Fund, have separately sued TC Energy and President Trump—Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump. Regardless of the new allow and political maneuvering, the President is required to honor the treaties and the Constitution. And TC Free energy still must bide by federal and tribal law. The case is now up to the Tribes, and they will not permit a strange company to break American law, have land that does not belong to them, ignore the voices and laws of the tribal citizens, and destroy an aquifer that feeds millions of Americans. See the related statement from Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Bordeaux.

"People must understand that the Ogalalla Aquifer that this pipeline will cross covers eight states and waters thirty percent of American crops. It is the largest underground h2o source in the United States. And the President and TC Energy would similar to run a pipeline of highly toxic, cancer-causing sludge chosen 'tar sands' right through it. The Tribes are taking a stand for their people, their civilisation, their water and their future, but they also are taking a represent YOU," said NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth.

Want to practice something to assist the tribes and protect the Ogalalla Aquifer? Donate now.

May 28 and 29, 2019:

May 21, 2019:

Although, TransCanada, now known as TC Energy, has said that it has lost
the 2019 construction season for the KXL pipeline, the company has asked the courts to elevator the current injunction so that they can immediately begin to build their human being-camps and piping-yards. TC Energy has indicated it will exist looking at a very ambitious 2020 construction flavor to make up for the lost time, as well.

Therefore, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Utility Commission is holding a public hearing on the proposed TransCanada KXL Pipeline on Tuesday, May 28, and Wed, May 29, 2019, first at 10:00 am.

The location of this two-day hearing is the St. Francis Indian Schoolhouse Gym, 502 Warrior Dr, St Francis, SD 57572.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux sent the following letter to tribal leaders:

TC Free energy Must Comply with Rosebud Law

Authored by Rodney Bordeaux, President, Rosebud Sioux Tribe

Greetings my friends and relatives,

Čante wasteya nape čiuzapelo (I accept your hand in friendship). As the elected President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, I write regarding a critical issue affecting not only our Tribe, merely all of the United States. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe—also known as the Sičangu Lakota Oyate—is 1 of the seven tribes that make upwards the Očeti Sakowin (the 7 Council Fires of the Lakota people). Together with the Fort Belknap Indian Community, we brought a lawsuit to stop the construction of the Keystone 40 pipeline through our territories.

We are ensuring that TC Free energy (TransCanada) follows and respects our police force. Nosotros take been mistreated in this process, and TC Energy has never sought or obtained our consent to build a pipeline in our territory, including on lands held in trust by the Usa. In granting a let for the pipeline, the President has ignored his obligation to protect the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in direct violation of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868, ignored federal right of manner and mineral statutes, and ignored basic principles of federal Indian law.

Although TC Energy had twice been denied a let for the Keystone XL pipeline, on January 24, 2017, President Trump invited TC Energy to resubmit its application. Once resubmitted, the U.South. State Department did not bother to seek any new information or public comment, but instead quickly granted TC Energy a permit. Now, later on the courts take told the United States information technology must follow the law, President Trump has attempted to circumvent the courts past issuing a new permit. Merely, the President must comply with the Treaties, and TC Energy must comply with Rosebud law.

Similar that of the U.s., the Rosebud Sioux Tribe also has laws that crave us to ensure that any company seeking to build a pipeline in our territory must obtain our consent. We must ensure our people are safe, and that the economic security, health, welfare, and general well-being of Rosebud and our members are protected.

TC Energy must follow the constabulary, and that includes our laws and regulations with respect to the construction of this pipeline. Our Land Utilise, Environmental Protection, and Public Utilities Codes direct apply, and TC Energy has failed to comply with them. To that end, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Utility Commission volition be holding a public hearing on Tuesday, May 28, 2019, and Wednesday, May 29, 2019, to accost the Keystone XL pipeline and its impacts on our territory and people. Nosotros invite anyone interested in providing testimony to attend. For those of you that will non be able to attend, I inquire that you submit a letter nigh your concerns and in support of our lawsuit.

The promises made to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, every bit well as the Oceti Sakowin, were broken before the ink on Fort Laramie treaties dried. The lands, water, and promises made in those treaties were paid for, literally, with the claret of our ancestors and relatives. The obligation of the United States to uphold those treaties is paramount, and Keystone XL's current path cannot be canonical without the Sičangu Lakota's consent.

Hečetu yelo. (This is truthful.)

Rodney Bordeaux

President

May xvi, 2019:

The Us Commune Court for the Commune of Montana recently accepted an amended complaint in what volition now exist known as Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump (formerly Rosebud Sioux Tribe five. The states Dept of Country). The Native American Rights Fund represents the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Customs in this case.

In late 2018 and early 2019, the courts repeatedly blocked TransCanada's attempts to first construction on the Keystone Xl pipeline. The judge institute that the U.s. State Department had non fulfilled its duties to the American people when it issued TransCanada a 2017 permit for the Keystone Xl pipeline without the required environmental and safety review. They prohibited any structure until the Trump Administration and TransCanada acquit the necessary review. President Trump did not like these decisions. So, in March he withdrew the State Section's permit and issued his ain presidential let as an try to avoid any ecology or regulatory oversight and to circumvent the courtroom decisions.

The new complaint in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump responds to President Trump's March 29 presidential allow. President Trump is now a defendant and the case is now called Rosebud et al v. Trump, et al. The Tribes filed this amended complaint (1) to stop the President from trying to circumvent the court and (2) to add claims against TC Energy Corp. (formerly TransCanada Corp.) because maps now show the pipeline corridor crossing tribal territory and h2o supplies.

"President Trump tried to become effectually the courts, the laws, and the will of the American people, in order to put a foreign-owned pipeline on tribal lands," said NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth. "Withal, maps at present reveal that the pipeline will cross tribal lands and water supplies—so the pipeline and the president MUST comply with tribal laws and treaties. The Native American Rights Fund is prepared to fight to ensure those treaties are honored and the water is protected."

Importantly, the new complaint also calls on President Trump to protect Native American people. In his recent proclamation, Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day, 2019, President Trump alleged it imperative to finish the violence that disproportionately affects American Indian and Alaska Native communities. To that end, the government must examine the potential impact of pipeline construction and "human-camps" on Native people, especially women and children.

April 23, 2019:

On April 23, 2019, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community, represented by the Native American Rights Fund, filed an amended complaint confronting TransCanada and President Trump over the handling of the Keystone XL pipeline. In addition to extensive violations of law outlined in the original complaint, the new complaint raises the following problems:

Maps released by TransCanada show the pipeline corridor and access roads crossing Rosebud territory, some of which is held in trust, every bit well every bit Rosebud'southward Mni Wiconi Water system. The 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie and other federal laws requires Rosebud consent to cross Rosebud territory. Rosebud has land utilise, environmental, and utilities codes that apply, and TransCanada must comply with Rosebud constabulary on Rosebud land.

TransCanada agreed to bide by tribal law. Fort Belknap has a Cultural Property Act that applies to the pipeline. TransCanada failed to comply with Rosebud and Fort Belknap police force.

New climate modify data requires a new ecology touch on assay. Recent governmental reports contain new information nearly climatic change, which necessitates new analysis.

The federal regime violated the 1851 Treaty of Ft Laramie and 1855 Lame Bull Treaty, in which the US committed to protect confronting future impairment to the tribes' natural resources. The United states of america did not fairly review the pipeline's proposed route and whether it crosses tribal territory.

The federal authorities must examine potential impacts on the safe and welfare of Native people—specially women and children. An influx of itinerant workers, like those required for pipeline man-camps, correlates with increased sexual assaults, domestic violence, and sexual trafficking. The federal regime has a treaty obligation to protect tribal citizens probable to suffer increased rates of violence and corruption.

April i, 2019:

In an unprecedented action, President Trump has attempted to circumvent the constabulary past issuing TransCanada yet another presidential permit for the Keystone Forty pipeline.

This new permit is a blatant endeavor to avoid any environmental analysis for the pipeline that United states of america police and courts accept required. President Trump's attempt to circumvent the judicial co-operative is extremely troubling because he has elevated the profits of a foreign corporation above the will of the American people and the laws of the United states.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Customs have regime-to-government treaties with the United States that the President cannot violate. The Tribes are entitled to protect the health and welfare of their people and territory and to ensure that their treaties are upheld.

The Native American Rights Fund and our clients will continue to fight to ensure our treaties are upheld and that the health and welfare of our people is protected.

March viii, 2019:

Back in 2017, the mainline of the Keystone pipeline ruptured in South Dakota outside of the Lake Traverse Reservation, home to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. The spill, more than than 400,000 gallons of unprocessed crude, is the seventh largest on-shore spill since 2002. While TransCanada replaced topsoil and reseeded the surface area affected past the spill, it volition take decades for the lasting impairment of the spill to be known and remedied.

Last month, the Keystone base pipeline spilled in Missouri; while the spill was caught early on and a small amount of crude was lost, the fact that it spilled speaks volumes to the safety of such projects going forward.

NARF stands with our clients, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, in their staunch opposition to the completion of the Keystone Forty arm of the pipeline organisation. The KXL phase of the pipeline cuts directly through the traditional homelands of our client tribes. In addition, the possibility of damaging community h2o supplies, valuable agricultural lands, and wildlife habitats is not a cost our clients are willing to affect behalf of a foreign extractive company propping up a dying energy industry. The toll is likewise high.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe'due south President Rodney Bordeaux delivered the South Dakota State of the Tribes address in January. President Bordeaux had this to say about the KXL pipeline:

"In that location are a swell many things that trouble us near this projection. Some of the electric current concerns are rooted in our responsibleness to take care of Unci Maka, which is grandmother earth. As you know, our natural resource are finite. Once they are gone and depleted, they are gone.… What is missing is an appreciation of the long-term furnishings of an oil pipeline going through our sacred country…"

Watch President Bordeaux'southward full State of the Tribes address>>

Join the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community in their defense of their homelands, water systems, and communities from the Keystone XL pipeline. Choose life, choose water, cull to be a Mod Solar day Warrior.

February fifteen, 2019:

NARF has two important updates regarding our defence of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Customs against the Keystone Forty pipeline. Before this week, NARF filed a motility to arbitrate at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Ethnic Environmental Network v. U.South. Department of Land case regarding the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. See our asking for intervention .

NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth said, "We believe information technology'south imperative for the voices of our tribal clients to be heard regarding the impacts of the proposed pipeline. Today, equally in the past, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Customs drink the water that comes from the rivers and the ground sources to provide for their communities. The water has been at that place to support the people on their ancestral lands since time immemorial. The water delivery system for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe is chosen the Mni Wiconi, which translates to 'Water is Life.' On February xi, 2019, an 1,800-gallon spill was detected in Missouri on the main Keystone line, and last year more than 400,000 gallons were spilled from the main Keystone line in South Dakota virtually a tribal customs. We cannot permit another pipeline to be constructed, dangerously shut to yet another tribal community, for the do good of a strange energy company."

In addition to the intervention, a hearing has been scheduled in Rosebud Sioux Tribe et al v. United states of america Department of State et al. on Apr 10, 2019, in Montana. This hearing will focus on the Usa' motion to dismiss. NARF and our clients are confident in our claims against the structure of the pipeline, and nosotros are optimistic the court will not allow this case to be dismissed. See our original complaint filed .

The Keystone XL pipeline would cross the United States edge into Montana, then cut through the Peachy Sioux Reservation, as set forth in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, in S Dakota and finally Nebraska to Steele Urban center where the crude would mix with U.s.a. crude reserves and go along to Texas for consign.

September 26, 2018:

TransCanada has begun construction of the Keystone XL pipeline almost the Rosebud Reservation, merely a week after the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes) sued the Trump Administration for its illegal approval of the pipeline.

Bulldozers were seen this week grading the state in Tripp County, South Dakota, next to Rosebud lands. Structure has begun despite the fact that there are three lawsuits currently going on. The i filed past Rosebud Sioux concluding week cites the fact that the Trump Assistants has not undertaken any assay of: trust obligations, the potential bear upon on tribal hunting and angling rights, the potential impacts on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's unique water organisation, the potential bear upon of spills on tribal citizens, or the potential touch on cultural sites in the path of the pipeline. This is in violation of federal law.

"The United States is allowing TransCanada to begin construction fifty-fifty though there has been no review of our treaty rights, hunting and fishing rights, or the impacts to our people, our water, or our environment," President Rodney Thou. Bordeaux of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. "We will fight to ensure that federal law is followed."

Read the full letter from President Bordeaux:

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community intend to move ahead with their claims against the United States and to demand that the United States honor its legal obligations.

September x, 2018:

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Customs (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes) in coordination with their counsel, the Native American Rights Fund, on September 10, 2018, sued the Trump Administration in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls Division, for numerous violations of the constabulary in the Keystone XL pipeline permitting process. The Tribes are asking the court to declare the review process in violation of the Administrative Process Human activity (APA), the National Ecology Policy Human action (NEPA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and to rescind the illegal issuance of the Keystone Xl pipeline presidential permit.

On March 23, 2017, the U.S. Department of Country granted TransCanada's permit application and issued information technology a presidential let to construct and operate the Keystone Forty Pipeline. This conclusion reversed two previous administrative decisions and was done without any public comment or ecology analysis. The permitting process was completed merely 56 days afterward TransCanada submitted its application for the third time. The State Department provided no caption in the 2017 decision for its contradictory factual finding; instead, it simply overlooked its previous factual findings and replaced them with a new i. The reversal came as no surprise. According to a 2015 personal public fiscal disclosure study filed with the Federal Ballot Commission, then-candidate Trump held between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of stock in TransCanada Pipelines, Ltd. NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth explains, "President Trump permitted the Keystone XL pipeline considering he wanted to. It was a political step, having aught to do with what the police actually requires. NARF is honored to represent the Rosebud Sioux and Fort Belknap Tribes to fully enforce the laws and fight this illegal pipeline."

Woman and horse at Ft. Belknap. Photograph by Todd Klassy. *

Snaking its manner from Alberta to Nebraska, the pipeline would cross the U.s.a.-Canada border in Philips County, Montana, directly adjacent to Blaine County and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The pipeline would cantankerous less than 100 miles from the headquarters of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and run straight through sacred and celebrated sites as well as the ancestral lands of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes. In S Dakota, the pipeline would cross through Tripp County, just miles from the boundaries of the Rosebud Indian Reservation and within yards of Rosebud's trust lands and tribal members' allotments. These lands are well inside the expanse of bear on for fifty-fifty a minor rupture and spill. In that location are endless historical, cultural, and religious sites in the planned path of the pipeline that are at risk of devastation, both by the pipeline's construction and by the threat of inevitable ruptures and spills if the pipeline becomes operational. Additionally, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe operates its own water commitment system, which is part of the Mni Wiconi Rural Water Supply Project. The pipeline would cross the two sources of h2o for the Mni Wiconi Projection.

Despite all of these facts, throughout the permitting procedure, in that location was no analysis of trust obligations, no assay of treaty rights, no analysis of the potential impact on hunting and fishing rights, no analysis of potential impacts on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe'south unique water system, no analysis of the potential impact of spills on tribal citizens, and no analysis of the potential touch on on cultural sites in the path of the pipeline, which is in violation of the NEPA and the NHPA.

Nov 2017:

President William Kindle of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) promised continued vigilance in lite of the Nebraska Public Service Commission'due south determination today to let TransCanada Corp.'southward proposed Keystone XL pipeline to cross that state's lands. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has retained the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) to represent its interests with regard to the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline's proposed route crosses through traditional Lakota homelands and treaty territories, and will affect not only the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, merely as well Native Nations in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. It also endangers the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water for Native and not-Native users' residential and agricultural needs on the Loftier Plains in eight states.

"The land, h2o, tribal sovereignty, and governmental services were not 'given' to united states in those treaties," President Kindle said. "They were bargained for with the claret of our ancestors. We will non dishonor our relatives and unnecessarily endanger our wellness, safety, and wellbeing. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will take any and all necessary steps, upwards to and including litigation, to protect our people, our land and water, and our cultural and historic resource."

"As we accept seen, spills from such projects can be catastrophic," said NARF Staff Attorney Matt Campbell. "The Rosebud Sioux Tribe—simply similar South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana—has a duty to protect the health and welfare

of its citizens. NARF will help the Tribe make sure it has considered all of its options for ensuring the rubber of the Tribe's citizens, territory, and resource."

"This is their land, their water," said NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth. "They accept laws protecting their water and those laws must be respected. Keystone XL will need permission from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, so this is not over."

See the open letter from President Kindle for more information on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe'due south position.

Voices from the Community

Mind to more voices from the customs on the NARF YouTube channel.

A History of the Keystone Pipeline

The Keystone 40 (KXL) Pipeline is the proposed Phase 4 of the Keystone Pipeline organization, which already is online with a capacity to comport more than 500,000 barrels per twenty-four hour period. The XL stands for "export limited." If completed, KXL would add another 510,000 barrels of capacity.

Stage 1 of the Keystone Pipeline was permitted in March 2008. Phase 2 and three did not require Presidential Permits and were built over several years starting in 2010. Because it crosses the U.South.-Canada edge, Phase iv does require a Presidential Permit; notwithstanding, it has been met with opposition since its initial proposal. A timeline of the Keystone Pipeline projection is below.

1851, 1855, 1868

Tribes and the United States government sign Treaties of Fort Laramie establishing respective territories.

2005

February: TransCanada Corporation proposes the Keystone Pipeline project.

2007

September: Canada's National Free energy Lath approves the Canadian section.

2008

January: ConocoPhillips acquires a 50% stake in the project.

March: The U.S. Department of State issues a Presidential Permit authorizing Keystone facilities at the U.S.-Canada edge.

September: TransCanada and ConocoPhillips file an application for the Keystone 40 Phase 4 extension.

2009

Pipeline representatives start visiting landowners potentially affected by Keystone Twoscore. Opposition emerges in Nebraska.

June: TransCanada announces information technology will buy ConocoPhillips' stake in Keystone.

2010

March: Canada's National Energy Lath approves the Canadian department of the Keystone Xl.

June: Stage i of the Keystone Pipeline goes online. It runs from Hardisty, Alberta, to Patoka, Illinois.

June-July: Increased opposition to Keystone XL includes legislators and scientists speaking out against the project; the Environmental Protection Agency questions the demand for the pipeline extension.

July: The Land Department extends its review of Keystone, saying they demand more time for review before a final environmental impact assessment tin be released.

2011

February : The Keystone-Cushing Phase ii of the pipeline goes online. It connects Steele Urban center, Nebraska, to Cushing, Oklahoma.

Baronial: The State Department releases its terminal environmental assessment that the pipeline would take a limited environmental affect.

August-September: Keystone XL protesters organize two weeks of ceremonious disobedience at the White Business firm. Police arrest approximately one one thousand people.

December: U.S. legislators pass a bill with a provision saying President Barack Obama must brand a decision on the pipeline'due south futurity in the adjacent sixty days.

2012

Jan: Obama rejects the Keystone Pipeline, maxim the Dec bill did non allow plenty time to review the new route. Obama says TransCanada is free to submit another awarding.

February: TransCanada announces it will build Phase iii of the Keystone Pipeline as a separate project that is not discipline to presidential permission, since information technology does non cantankerous an international border.

April: TransCanada submits a new route to officials in Nebraska for approval.

May: TransCanada files a new awarding with the State Department for the northern role of Keystone XL.

2013

Jan: Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approves the proposed route for Keystone Xl, sending the project back to the State Department for review. Pipeline opponents file a lawsuit confronting the Nebraska government claiming the land police used to review the new route is unconstitutional.

2014

Jan: The Cushing MarketLink Phase 3a pipeline goes online. It connects Cushing, Oklahoma, to Port Arthur, Texas. Phase 3b is added later, connecting the pipeline from Port Arthur to Houston, Texas.

February: A Nebraska judge rules that the law that immune the governor to approve Keystone Forty over the objections of landowners was unconstitutional. Nebraska appeals.

April: The Country Department suspends the regulatory process indefinitely, citing dubiety about the courtroom example in Nebraska.

November: TransCanada says the costs of Keystone XL have grown to The states$8 billion from Us$v.iv billion. Elections turn control of the U.S. Congress over to Republicans, who pledge to motility forwards on Keystone Twoscore.

2015

Jan: The Nebraska Supreme Court narrowly strikes downwardly the lower-courtroom decision, ruling that the governor'southward actions were ramble. The U.S. Senate approves a neb to build Keystone Twoscore.

Feb: Obama vetoes the bill.

November: The Obama administration rejects TransCanada's application to build the Keystone Twoscore pipeline.

2016

November: Trump elected president.

2017

January: Trump signs a presidential memorandum inviting TransCanada to resubmit their awarding for a Presidential Permit and directing the Secretary of Land, Department of the Interior, and Department of the Army to fast-track the determination. He likewise signs an club requiring pipelines in the United States to be built with U.S. steel.

March: The Trump White Firm exempts the Keystone Pipeline from the requirement to use U.South. steel.

2018

September: The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, in coordination with their counsel, the Native American Rights Fund, on September ten, 2018, sued the Trump Assistants in the U.Due south. District Courtroom for the District of MT for numerous violations of the law in the Keystone XL pipeline permitting process.

*Photos by Todd Klassy. To run into more Montana Native American photos, get to www.toddklassy.com.

Read More: Protect Tribal Natural Resources

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Source: https://www.narf.org/cases/keystone/