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#NO KXL Buffalo Roast (Photo by Mark Hefflinger / Bold Nebraska)

PHOTOS: Click here for photos of event, downloadable by members of the media (via Flickr). 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 30, 2014
Contact:
Aldo Seoane, 605-319-8151
Jane Kleeb, jane@boldnebraska.org 402-705-3622

TransCanada In Trouble

South Dakota Permit Expired, Landowners and Tribes Organized

Raising the “No Permit, No Pipeline” flag at the tipi camp (Photo by Matt Sloan / Bold Nebraska)

Rosebud Sioux Spirit Camp near Ideal, S.D. — TransCanada’s state permit from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) expired on June 29, 2014. This now leaves TransCanada without state-based permits, necessary to construct Keystone XL, in both Nebraska and South Dakota.

While TransCanada can apply to the PUC for a re-certification of their permit, citizens and tribes can also dispute information in their original application, making it much more difficult for TransCanada to obtain a re-certified permit, and it opens the door to additional conditions being placed on the pipeline company.

TransCanada has stated they are unsure when they will ask for their permit to be re-certified. The Public Utilities Commission has stated their docket will be open for public comment when and if TransCanada ask for recertification. The alliance of farmers, ranchers, citizens and tribes—often referred to as the Cowboy and Indian Alliance—are ready to challenge the permit on grounds of tribal rights, water protection and the need to avoid the Sandhills that reach into South Dakota.

This past weekend, at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Spirit Camp, an event called “Buffalo Roast, TransCanada is Toast” took place to celebrate this stage of our fight and to vow we will continue our strong alliance at the local, state and national levels until the pipeline is rejected by Pres. Obama.

The group raised a flag that says “No Permit, No Pipeline. Protect our Land and Water.” The flag has a black snake cut into three parts—MT, SD and NE. The black snake is a reference to a tribal story that a threat to families’ land and water will be a black snake, and it is critical to defeat this risk to future generations.

Pictures

All pictures are available for press use with photo credit to “Matt Sloan for Bold Nebraska” or “Mark Hefflinger for Bold Nebraska,” as noted in the caption.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/boldnebraska/sets/72157645417669915

Quotes

“Transcanada is feeling the pressure. The organized efforts of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance have pushed the KXL pipeline project up against the ropes and these native nations, these non-native landowners stand resolute to see this project become just another unfulfilled dream of the Tar Sands infrastructure. We do this for Mother Earth. For the water. And for our lives.”
—Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environment Network Campaign Organizer (goldtoothdallas@gmail.com)

“We are the people of the land and we will prevail in protecting our land and water from TransCanada’s black snake.”
—Bruce Boettcher, Nebraska Landowner

“In the spring of 2008, Dakota Rural Action began organizing farmers and ranchers into a landowners group that has worked to ensure a safer pipeline and a fairer easement with TransCanada. In the past six years, we formed alliances with many different groups that are in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. Having learned of the harm to our environment caused by the mining and transporting of tarsands oil, Dakota Rural Action’s position on the pipeline has changed and we now we ask President Obama to deny TransCanada’s permit and to stop the Keystone XL before it can cause harm to our land and water. We will ask the PUC to protect our rights as landowners and our allies rights to protect their cultural resources.”
—Paul Seamans, Dakota Rural Action Board Member and Landowner (jacknife@goldenwest.net)

“TransCanada’s risky Keystone XL pipeline is literally falling apart around them. They have no permit in Nebraska and now have no permit in South Dakota. This was a flawed project and route from day one. Citizens, landowners and tribes across the Heartland will continue to stick together to ensure Pres. Obama does the right thing by rejecting the risky pipeline to protect our land and water and that our states do the right thing in protecting our rights.”
—Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska Director (jane@boldnebraska.org)

BACKGROUND:

Gary Hanson, chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, has stated to the media that “if there’s any kind of contention regarding the pipeline, then a docket would be opened up,” meaning that the PUC will once again accept comments from “all parties regarding the merits of the filing.”(1) The application process will also likely include a new public hearing.(2)

REFERENCES:

1. “Expiration of South Dakota Keystone Permit Another Hurdle for TransCanada,” InsideClimate News, 6/17/14 (http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20140617/expiration-south-dakota-keystone-permit-another-hurdle-transcanada)

2. “Keystone Foes Vow to Fight South Dakota Permit Renewal,” Bloomberg, 5/8/14 (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-09/keystone-foes-vow-to-fight-south-dakota-permit-renewal.html)

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