In case you missed the email alert from Sierra Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune:
“It's been called the next Keystone XL fight -- and it's heating up fast.
For months, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has been peacefully protesting a proposed 1,168-mile-long fracked oil pipeline that would threaten their water, their sacred sites, and their future, and Sierra Club staff and volunteers have been working behind the scenes in support. In recent weeks, the Standing Rock Sioux have been joined by thousands, including an unprecedented show of support from more than 100 other tribes from across the country.
Next Tuesday, you have a chance to join them in solidarity. There will be gatherings from coast to coast to show support for the Standing Rock Sioux, and to urge President Obama to stop this dangerous oil pipeline. Find an event near you today!
The controversial Dakota Access pipeline would carry 450,000 barrels of oil through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois -- cutting through communities, farms, sensitive natural areas, wildlife habitat, and tribal lands, including the Standing Rock Sioux's ancestral lands that are within half a mile of its current route.1
Not only would the Dakota Access fracked oil pipeline threaten sacred sites and culturally important landscapes, it would also cross under the Missouri River just upstream of the Tribe's drinking water supply, where an oil spill would pose a serious threat to the Tribe's health, culture, and way of life. Despite these risks to the Tribe, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved this project without sufficient consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux, using a technicality that allowed them not to consider the potential impacts of an oil spill.
It's important that we show support for the Standing Rock Sioux who are making a courageous stand to protect their land, water, and rights against the fossil fuel industry's greed. RSVP to join a solidarity event near you, or consider starting your own if there's not one near you yet.
This protest is gathering so much support and attention because it's clear that this isn't just about one pipeline or a serious threat to one tribe. This is a fight that is connected to courageous stands being made by communities all across the country and the globe, wherever the fossil fuel industry is running amok and putting their profits over people, water, and our climate. We're all in this together, so it's critical that we show up on Tuesday to show the world that it's time to keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground and away from our communities.”