Future Generations and the Struggle for Two Rivers

Carolyn Raffensberger, Ames lawyer and director of the Science Environment and Health Network, explains where the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) legal struggle is now:

  • There are two major pending lawsuits: Standing Rock against the Army Corps of Engineers for nationwide permitting of crossing of rivers; 15 Iowa landowners whose property was seized by eminent domain vs. the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), which classified the private pipeline as a utility
     
  • There are also two permits yet to be granted: the crossing of Oahe Lake, and a hydrostatic testing permit to essentially flush the pipeline from end to end once it is complete.

Carolyn also explains her personal involvement as a lawyer at the Sacred Stone camp of Sioux and other native American nations in Cannonball, ND, to defend the Missouri River against the pipeline's crossing. She helped create a Sacred Stone "annex" where the pipeline crosses the Des Moines River near Pilot Mound. Carolyn's actions included calling in international observers when Homeland Security removed water and sanitation supplies from the camp of 4000. Prior to that, Carolyn crafted a brief on behalf of future generations for the administrative hearing presided over by the IUB.

April Burch of Boone joins the discussion as she describes her family's weekend trip to the Sacred Stone camp to deliver needed supplies, including solar panels and fresh produce from the Farmers Market. This weekend, pipeline security workers unleashed dogs on protestors who had discovered that the company had bulldozed sacred ground just one day after the tribe had filed for its protection. This did not prevent April's children from making new friends and enjoying the festival atmosphere, complete with horsemanship competitions and foot races.

Listen Here Now Originally broadcast 09/05/2016
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