Appeals Court Stops Pipeline Work

Decision is ordered pending tribal appeal

Bottom Line: Victories for the Standing Rock Sioux in their fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline are continuing to mount.

A federal appeals court has ordered the company building the Dakota Access oil pipeline to stop construction for 20 miles on both sides of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe while the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s appeal of its denied motion to do so is considered.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals’ District of Columbia Circuit ordered on September 16 that “Dakota Access LLC be enjoined pending further order of the court from construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline for 20 miles on both sides of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.”

The panel explained, “The purpose of this administrative injunction is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for injunction pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.”

This directive solidifies a request by three federal agencies on September 9 for Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access LLC, to cease construction along the same swathe, which the Standing Rock Sioux say contains sacred artifacts and ancient burial grounds.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault expressed relief at the decision. “The Tribe appreciates this brief reprieve from pipeline construction and will continue to oppose this project, which will severely jeopardize its water and cultural resources. We will not rest until our lands, people, waters, and sacred sites are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline.”

Attorneys for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe—which has signed on as an intervenor in the case—faced off with Dakota Access LLC attorneys on September 15 in federal district court in Washington, before the three-judge panel that will also hear the appeal. The judges are Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas B. Griffith and Cornelia T.L. Pillard. They voted 2-1 to stop the company from working, according to the order, with Brown casting the dissenting vote.

The tribe filed its appeal after U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg on September 9 denied the tribe’s request for an injunction against the pipeline.

The court’s decision was one of several legal victories for the Standing Rock Sioux on September 16. On that day, a Bismarck judge dissolved a temporary restraining order on protesting that had been levied against Archambault II, Tribal Council Member Dana Yellow Fat, and several other tribal members.

Also on September 16, the tribe obtained an official permit to use federal lands managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers near Lake Oahe on the Missouri River, allowing the tribe to “gather to engage in a lawful free speech demonstration on Federal lands designated in the permit,” the Corps announced.

Omaha District Commander Col. John W. Henderson of the Army Corps of Engineers—one of the three federal agencies that had urged a halt to construction—delivered the approval of the permit application.

“The Tribe’s Special Use Permit application requested use of lands to the north and south of the mouth of the Cannonball River,” the Corps said in a statement. “However, because the northern property is subject to an existing grazing lease, this portion of the application is not being acted on at this time.”

The permit enables project opponents, who are now widely known as “water protectors,” to continue gathering where they have been camped out since mid-August, and to use the land for “lawful purposes,” the Corps said.

“Thousands of people have peacefully gathered in prayer and solidarity against the Dakota Access Pipeline,” said Archambault in the Army Corps statement. “We appreciate the cooperation of the Corps in protecting the First Amendment rights of all water protectors.”

The tribe will take on site maintenance, pay for any damage or necessary restoration, provide liability insurance and be responsible for welfare, safety and supervision of those using the land. The Standing Rock Sioux also agree to restore the land to its original condition when they are done.

Henderson said the Corps was committed to its relationship with Standing Rock and stressed its “deep respect for the traditions, culture, and concerns of all Native American Tribes.”

“Among our many diverse missions is managing and conserving our natural resources,” he said. “I want to encourage those who are using the permitted area to be good stewards and help us to protect these valuable resources.” http://bit.ly/2d7N2fM

Dakota Access Protests Continue

‘All of us as human beings are part of nature’

Bottom Line: The Dakota Access pipeline may be on hold but if anything, opposition is growing.

From Washington, D.C. to North Dakota, protests continued last week against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, following an effective halt by three federal agencies to the massive energy project.

More than two dozen pipeline opponents were arrested near Mandan, North Dakota last week. September 13 was designated a “Day of Action” that also saw a rally of about 500 people in front of the White House that was highlighted by the appearance of former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

“If there is one profound lesson that the Native American people have taught us, it is that all of us as human beings are part of nature,” Sanders said. “Our species will not survive if we continue to destroy nature, so today we stand united in saying, ‘Stop the pipeline, respect Native American rights, and let us move forward to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels.’”

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has led the charge against the pipeline, which would cost $3.8 billion, stretch 1,172 miles, and be routed underneath the Missouri River, the source of the tribe’s drinking water.

But over the summer, many politicians, celebrities, environmentalists and other critics have come out against the project as well. They have cited Native rights and the environmental implications of continuing to extract oil in the face of climate change.

“As a nation, our job is to break our addiction to fossil fuels, not increase our dependence on oil,” Sanders said. “I join with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and the many tribal nations fighting this dangerous pipeline.”

On September 9, the departments of Justice and the Interior, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, effectively froze progress on Dakota Access. In a joint statement, the agencies urged renewed federal action that would “ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related reviews and decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources, and treaty rights.”

Project opponents, now widely known as “water protectors,” hailed the announcement even as they stepped up their activism at encampments along the route. On September 13 and 14, a number of them chained themselves to heavy equipment at two construction sites.

“Law enforcement began to arrive within the hour, followed by a large bus load of police dressed in full riot gear,” Red Warrior Camp said of the September 13 altercations. “An initial police line was formed with officers toting pellet guns. Filing in behind them was a second line of officers pointing large semi-automatic rifles.”

. . . while in Washington, D.C., allies deployed in force as well. Navajo Nation Washington Office

The protectors were warned they would be arrested, and most were charged with the Class B misdemeanor of criminal trespass. Those chained to equipment also were charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction of a government function, according to Red Warrior Camp. In total, 28 people were arrested, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

Energy Transfer Partners, the energy giant whose subsidiary, Dakota Access LLP, is building the pipeline, remains undeterred. “We are committed to completing construction and safely,” said chairman and CEO Kelcy Warren in a letter to employees on September 13. “We intend to meet with officials in Washington to understand their position and reiterate our commitment to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline into operation.”

Further, the company said, it has obtained all rights of way, permits and certificates in the four states it crosses—North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois and Iowa. “Nearly the entire Dakota Access pipeline route is across private land,” Warren said. “In addition, neither the land abutting nor Lake Oahe itself is subject to Native American control or ownership.”

The company insists that the pipeline is safe and in fact parallels a gas line and other infrastructure already in place. “Concerns about the pipeline’s impact on the local water supply are unfounded,” said Warren.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II was equally firm about finding a legal solution, while repeating that Dakota Access had already plowed through areas sacred to the tribe.

“The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will continue to explore all legal, legislative and administrative options to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline,” he said in response to Warren’s letter. “The pipeline has already led to the destruction of our sacred sites.”

He added, “Energy Transfer Partners has proven time and time again that the bottom line for them is money. The bottom line for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is and always will be protecting our lands, people, water and sacred sites from the devastation of this pipeline. Our fight isn’t over until there is permanent protection of our people and resources from the pipeline.” http://bit.ly/2crUwZM

An Opera In Native Voice

The Gold Rush is the theme; Nisenan is the language

Bottom Line: A Hamilton-type Native musical mash-up is hitting the road, with its own unique method of expression.

Jack Kohler, the writer/composer/director of the new Native-themed opera Something Inside Is Broken, is hoping to convey “the right balance of truth and honesty, satire and optimism.” By all indications, he has the ingredients.

Something Inside Is Broken, which begins a three-state tour on September 22, is a kaleidoscopic depiction of the encounter of the Nisenan people with Johann Sutter in the years preceding the California Gold rush. The story is told largely through the voices of female characters who bore the brunt of Sutter’s style of servitude—including sexual exploitation.

The show got on its feet last spring with performances at Sierra College and Sacramento State. Its portrayal of local history was made richer by the local families who came to see their own stories portrayed in rock ballads, choruses and spirited raps—accompanied by strings, Native flute and trumpet, electric and acoustic guitar, piano, bass and percussion.

It is a rock ’n’ roll, hip-hop mash-up celebration of the Nisenan people and their language, both sung and spoken. Half of the 26 original songs are performed in Nisenan because the creator, Alan Wallace is passionate about sharing it.

“I’ve always thought the Nisenan language had the potential for a much higher level of communication than can be done in English,” he told News from Native California magazine. “It’s much more intellectual. It’s much more multi-dimensional.”

J. Ross Parrelli is Peheipe, a central figure in the opera. Rocky Zapata

Multi-dimensionality is a core creative principle of Something Inside Is Broken. Its scenes take place in four temporal zones:

• 1846, the pre-Gold Rush years;
• a genesis moment when the Worldmaker created human beings;
• 1906, an important year in California treaty rights history;
• “Frontier Idol,” a localized time specific to a reality television show. It could take place now or slightly in the future.

Something Inside Is Broken is produced by On Native Ground, a tribal nonprofit multimedia company known for TV documentaries on environmental and social justice issues. The opera has received support via a GoFundMe campaign, as well as from tribal sponsors; this fall, they are the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and the Tuolumne Band of Me-wuk Indians.

The current tour launches with three shows in Sacramento, one of which is the last event of California’s Native American Day celebration at the State Capitol. Then the cast of 24 takes to the road for a single show in Reno, Nevada and four performances at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Then it’s back to California for three performances at the Escondido Center for the Arts and one at UC-Davis.

Natalie Benally (Navajo), who plays Pulba (“dove” in Nisenan), a woman who falls into Sutter’s clutches, thinks the show should—and can—go all the way to Broadway. Also the show’s dance captain, she signed on in part because of the opportunity to learn and explore another indigenous language besides Diné.

Fremont’s massacre at Lassen Lake, as well as its aftermath, are depicted. Rocky Zapata

And the music grabbed her. She fell in love with her solo, she said, even before she knew what the words meant. “It had a haunting atmosphere; there’s a hint in the music that the normality of their lives is coming to an end. I’m glad that doesn’t get sugar-coated.”

The young actress is candid about how she brings real-life experience of both sexual abuse and assault to her role. “Colonization stripped our people of our humanity, of our ability to live,” she said. “Our bodies were in the way of expansion. It broke the spirit of a lot of people. I’ve been waiting for something like this to come about. When I was acting in school shows at Fort Lewis College, I’d think, maybe someday I’ll be able to play one of my people in a show.”

Jack Kohler wrote the show’s finale, “Wretched Little Things,” after seeing Donald Trump perform in one of the Republican Party debates. “It’s a song about the five percent of bad people in the world, like Sutter,” he said, “who ruin everything for everyone else, and who mess up the whole world for generations to come, from the Klamath River to the Amazon River to Standing Rock, North Dakota.”

For the cast of a show that is largely about Manifest Destiny, the events unfolding at Standing Rock are a source of inspiration during the long periods of Nisenan language instruction and rehearsal.

“When I heard about the pepper spray and dogs being unleashed on my people at Standing Rock, I had a strong impulse to get in the car and go,” Benally said. “But what we’re doing is important too. The next morning I walked down to the river to say prayers at sunrise, burn herbs and bless the water. I realized I could connect with the water protectors in North Dakota through prayer, I could participate spiritually.”

Her prayer was to fix the brokenness inside once and for all. “Our time to fix this is now,” she said. http://bit.ly/2cBWfim

How Did I Miss That?

Rick Perry on the dance floor, vegetarian blasphemy
and electing the dead

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported that Assemblyman Bill Nojay, a four-year incumbent, was scheduled to appear in federal court September 9 on fraud charges. Instead, he committed suicide. In spite of his death, Nojay beat a living candidate, Rick Milne, in the Republican Primary. The dead candidate was polling 58 percent of the vote with 88 percent of the districts counted.

My Republican cousin Ray Sixkiller was not shocked that somebody accused of fraud could win. “But,” he said, “I was pretty sure that being dead would slow him down.”

* * *

WLOS reported that five people were arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Asheville, North Carolina and that warrants are outstanding for two more. One was reportedly for Richard Campbell of Edisto Island, South Carolina for assaulting 69-year-old Shirley Teter, who uses a portable oxygen mask. When punched in the face, Teter fell on her oxygen tank. After being interviewed by WLOS News 13, she followed up with a phone call. She wanted to know if the station could ask Trump supporters if punching her in the face was “deplorable.”

“When the cops serve that warrant,” Cousin Ray observed, “they’ll need to know which basket he goes in.”

* * *

Mediaite reported on former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s debut on Dancing With the Stars. Reportedly, he was running dead last in Las Vegas odds. His professional coach, Emma Slater, suggested it was an advantage to be “building his dancing from the bottom up.” Judges’ comments on his routine told the story from “not exactly subtle” to “when in doubt—go full out!”

“Every day he’s practicing,” Cousin Ray said with an approving nod, “is a day he’s not campaigning for Donald Trump.”

* * *

Cody Morris, 18, was observed using a water cup for soda pop in a McDonald’s in Springdale, Arkansas. At that point, he needed to pay for the soda if the management would allow that or face a minor theft charge. Instead, he ran outside and got into his car. He then backed into pursuing Mickey D employees. Theft plus violence equals robbery, and robbery is a felony. Instead of a small fine, Morris is now facing prison time.

Cousin Ray played the irony card: “Everybody knows how comfortable Arkansas prisons are.”

* * *

I noticed in the Raleigh Agenda that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) sent Lori Ann Phillips a letter threatening to revoke her custom license plate that she has used since 2004. Somebody complained it was “offensive and in poor taste.” The plate was kumquat.

Ms. Phillips is in the habit of naming her vehicles and getting personalized plates not for herself but for the vehicles. In this case, kumquat follows a truck named papaya; in the past, Ms. Phillips has driven mango and peaches.

In Australia, her current vehicle would be spelled cumquat, which might have caused some confusion. But the NCDOT has announced on Twitter that they “verified that kumquat is in fact a fruit.” So the plate will not be revoked. Cousin Ray wanted to know if they referred the complainant to mental health services.

* * *

Agence France-Presse reported that Alay Dave has brought a lawsuit in a Gujarati, India court to have Pokemon Go banned for blasphemy. The complaint is that the game offends the religious sensibilities of Hindus and Jains because it rewards players with virtual eggs. Jains are vegan and many Hindus are vegetarian.

In related news, a Russian blogger has been criminally charged with offending religious believers and inciting hatred because he filmed himself playing Pokemon Go in a church.

“There is no truth to the rumor,” Cousin Ray intoned, “that the Russian has asked Donald Trump to intercede with Vladimir Putin.”

* * *

Democracy Now! tells us that California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that will mandate overtime for farm workers who work over 40 hours a week . . . by 2019.

The Fair Labor Standards Act did that for most people in 1938. The National Labor Relations Act protected the right to join a union for most people in 1935, but farm workers were cut out of that as well. And that is why César Chávez asked us to boycott table grapes in the ‘60s.

Back in the day, I guess I was as offended by scab grapes as a Jain in Gujarat would be offended by a virtual egg. http://bit.ly/2csBann