General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama Holds Private Meeting As Cops Mass Near NoDAPL Front Lines
October 30, 2016
Excerpts:
While Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier sat down with President Barack Obama at a private roundtable in Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 25, Morton County, N.D. Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier was calling in police reinforcements from six states to enforce Energy Transfer Partners demands that trespassers be removed from the path of the pipeline.
---
Concurrently, consultations on infrastructure and projects such as DAPL are being held by the federal government with tribes to examine the current consultation process and come up with ways to make it more meaningful with tribal input. At a consultation in Seattle earlier this week, several leaders of tribes in Washington State called for an overhaul of the current tribal consultation system and presented a five-point plan for protecting the sacred.
Tribal nations are forced time and time again to defend that which is sacred to us, said Lummi Indian Business Council Chairman Tim Ballew II in a statement released after the hearing. This is the result of a failed process of consultation and flawed policies. We have treaties and promises from the federal government but almost always, we have to go to court and use our resources defending these rights. We urge Obama to overhaul this system and implement our plan.
Leaders from the Yakama Nation, Lummi Nation, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Spokane Tribe said that five measures should be taken: The U.S. Army Corps must conduct a region-wide Environmental Impact Statement for fossil fuel export plans that explores the known cumulative impacts of the multitude of individual projects that affect tribes in our region, the tribal leaders said. Obama must also incorporate language into Executive Order 13007, relating to Indian sacred sites, that references the need for tribes to grant informed consent on infrastructure projects. The Army Corps should delete the controversial Appendix C from its procedure manual, since it does not help the agency meet its requirements for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), they said.
---
The listening sessions will be held in cities across the nation through November 21 and tribes are invited to submit written input until November 30, according to the Washington tribal statement.
"The current process of consultation and approval of infrastructure projects is an attack on our sustained existence, said JoDe Goudy, chairman of the Yakama Nation. Our ancestors have endured the history of genocide, domination and dehumanization. The only way for the U.S. to prove that it is not currently inciting genocide is to acknowledge that the proposed materialization of these projects is an attack on our very existence and to take action to eliminate such threats.
http://expertoscs.com/post/37350-obama-holds-private-meeting-as-cops-mass-near-nodapl-front-lines
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)let's hope this means something