Pipelines

Sierra Club South Dakota has taken an active stance against oil and gas pipelines as a means of transporting fossil fuels across the state of South Dakota. 

Dakota Access Pipeline

Sierra Club Supports Pipeline Resistance

On October 1 the Executive Committee of the South Dakota Sierra Club extended their support for the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Thousands of native and non-native people have gathered near Fort Yates, ND, to defend treaty rights, cultural sites and natural resources, especially the most vital asset we share—water. 

A mission of the Sierra Club is to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment. The South Dakota Chapter of Sierra Club also rejects the continued dependence on fossil fuels, supports renewable energy, and works to protect all natural resources.

No resource is more valuable for the Dakotas and for all downriver states than the Missouri River. Recent breaks, spills and pipeline leaks, including from the Keystone pipeline near Freeman, remind us that there are two kinds of petroleum pipelines: those that have leaked, and those that will leak in the future. It is simply too risky to pump hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil each day under high pressure below the Missouri River and the other rivers this pipeline would cross.

The processes by which the Bakken oil is extracted—fracturing rock under extreme pressure, then re-injecting dangerous wastes deep into the earth—also pose unacceptable risks. The multitude of recent earthquakes in Oklahoma are an undeniable bi-product of fracking, but the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality behind the process also poses other ill-defined threats to the earth and water.

Some argue that it is safer to transport petroleum by pipeline than by rail. However, in the 21st century most every year has set a new record in global temperatures, driving home the fact that climate change is a crisis demanding a rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, such as South Dakota’s abundant wind and sun. With that transition, railroads can still transport agricultural products and manufactured goods, whereas once a pipeline is in the ground, the Texas investors would fight to keep fossil fuels flowing.

The Dakota Access Pipeline represents significant threats to our natural and human environment. We believe that those who have placed themselves on the line to protect the Missouri River and other resources deserve our support. They remind us that we are responsible for protecting irreplaceable water sources vital to life. We encourage other South Dakotans to visit the encampment website at www.standingrock.org to learn more, and to see how they might be able to help. 

Nebraska PSC Decision on KXL

It was the last day.

Bonnie wiggled my toes at 4:00am to wake me so I could hit the road after a quick cup of her strong coffee, shower, and a shave. The drive to Lincoln, Nebraska was 200 miles of gorgeous prairie adorned first by glimmering stars and then a mosaic of color. Mornings are glorious on the prairie.

I pulled into Lincoln at 8:40am to witness the Public Service Commission’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. The doors to the thrid floor meeting room were to open at 9:30am but there was a crowd waiting in line for one of the 49 avaiable seats. At least half of those would be filled by the media. It was obvious from the size of the crowd that I wasn't getting one of those seats so I headed downstairs.

I found the overflow room on the second floor and I was greeted at the door by three casually dressed guards who informed me that room was already full. It still wasn’t 9:30am. So I found a bench in the hallway.

A crowd soon joined my vigil. 

We were a cross-section of America; parents with children, grandparents, students, and young adults. Some huddled in prayer. Others gathered to listen to the proceedings on cellular phones. There was no wifi. I wandered about until a woman behind me began to weep. “Three yes, that’s it.”, she exclaimed. I turned to face her. “It’s not for me”, she said, “it’s for my family.”

Perhaps one day the commissioners will consider the words of Aldo Leopold, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.". Until then, call your representatives in Congress. Dial (202) 225-3121.

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Dakota Access Pipeline Bold Nebraska

Winter is coming... and Bold Alliance is taking action to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and allies at the Oceti Sakowin camps that are holding the line to protect our land, water and climate from the Dakota Access Pipeline

Temperatures are already plummeting in North Dakota, and adequate housing is absolutely critical to shelter the Water Protectors through the winter. 

Bold is raising $35,000 to build 30 tiny solar-powered barns on the Standing Rock land set aside for winter camping. 

Chip in to build tiny solar barns to shelter Water Protectors fighting Dakota Access.

Each "tiny barn" will be built with sustainable wood and materials sourced from the same family-owned Nebraska company that Bold Nebraska used in 2013 to build the #NoKXL Clean Energy Barn in the path of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The tiny barns will also be moveable — so they may be utilized in the future by the Standing Rock tribe, and transported to support Pipeline Fighters on the frontlines in other states.

Everyone who makes a donation will have their name inscribed on a plaque placed on the tiny barns at the camp.

  • $25: Pitch in for a solar panel

  • $50: Pitch in for a tiny solar barn

  • $500: Solar panel + battery for one tiny solar barn

  • $3,500: One tiny barn ($3,000 barn kit; $500 solar + battery)

Chip in $25, $50 or whatever you can to build tiny solar barns to stop Dakota Access.

Bold continues to stand with Standing Rock and landowners in Iowa fighting Dakota Access.

Bold Oklahoma coordinator Mekasi Camp Horinek has been embedded at the Oceti Sakowin camp in North Dakota since July, helping to organize nonviolent direct actions.

Bold Iowa started the Bakken Pipeline Pledge of Resistance, which has been signed by more than 2,500 people willing to risk arrest to stop the pipeline, and organized nonviolent direct actions resulting in stoppage of construction and dozens of arrests. 

Thanks for standing with Standing Rock and Iowa landowners fighting Dakota Access. 

Jane Kleeb and the Bold team


@Bold Nebraska on Twitter
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Bold Nebraska 
208 S. Burlington Ave., Ste 103, Box 325
Hastings, NE 68901 US

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Member Email

from John H. Davidson
 
"Pipelines are often touted as safer than train or truck for transporting oil and other hazardous materials. But over the last two-and-a-half years, crude oil and hazardous materials pipelines across the U.S. busted at a rate of more than once per day, through corrosion, floods, lightning, vehicles and vandals. That doesn’t even take into account incidents on natural gas lines."
 
www.hcn.org/articles/infographic-as-nebraska-regulators-ok-keystone-xl-decision-a-look-at-oil-spills?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email
 
Reply
 
Thank you John.
 
I question the fossil fuel industry's concern of the safety of transporting their product because of the lack of concern I seen from them regarding the nation's failure to implement modern safety equipment on our railroads. Nova produced a documentary on this problem called Why Do Trains Crash? which is freely available on Youtube. See https://youtu.be/42mgj51IJyw.
 
Mark
 
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