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South Dakota Department of Environment
and Natural Resources Water Management Board
Approves KXL Pipeline Water Permits
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For Immediate Release
January 21, 2020
Contact:
Pierre, South Dakota-After months of extended hearings The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources Water Management Board has approved the water permits allowing TransCanada to take public water from the Cheyenne, White and Bad rivers for their Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The approval comes just months after TransCanada’s KXl leaked 383,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota, and this leak was one of the largest in the state. When pipelines fail, the health of Indigenous and rural communities who depend on these water sources is threatened.
"To ignore the rights of tribes and reservation residents is a blasphemous act. It is not preserving the water or the rights of Indigenous and Native people of this state and those downstream. The board has acted out of a misguided sense of loyalty to big oil and for political party loyalties, beholden due to campaign donations. We will continue to stand in solidarity to protect our water, the rights of all indigenous people here and along the Keystone XL project." Joye Braun Frontline Community Organizer with Indigenous Environmental Network
South Dakota tribes including the Rosebud Sioux, Yankton Sioux, Cheyenne River Sioux, and the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance have and will continue to be vocal about their opposition to the KXL. They do not want this toxic tar sands pipeline near Indigenous lands and communities, nor further development within the tar sands region of northern Alberta.
TransCanada continuously ignores tribal nations, across the Medicine Line. TransCanada’s Coastal Gaslink, a 670-kilometer fracked gas pipeline that would carry fracked gas from Dawson Creek, B.C. is being pushed through the Wet’suwet’en Nation despite land protectors blocking the proposed route.
"I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed in not just the water board but the governor, too.” said Zora Lone Eagle, age 13, youth intervenor MniWakan Nakicijinpi Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal member. “TransCanada paid her off to approve the water permit and she doesn't realize she uses water from the river and it's not something to just throw away."
"My voice has not been heard and I want an explanation as to why these permits were approved, as none was given by the Water Management Board. In fact the only criteria they even bothered to talk about was availability, and even that was weak," said Tatanka Itancan Lone Eagle, age 17, youth intervenor MniWakan Nakicijinpi Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal member. "We deserve an explanation as to why they completely ignored 11 days of testimony and evidence disproving the state and applicants. They never even gave us a clear explanation as to why they violated our due process rights. You can believe this is not the last word, we have only just begun."
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Established in 1990, The Indigenous Environmental Network is an international environmental justice nonprofit that works with tribal grassroots organizations to build the capacity of Indigenous communities. IEN’s activities include empowering Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, the health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.
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