FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, January 5, 2015
Contact: Sabrina King, Dakota Rural Action Organizer: (605)939-0527
Joye Braun, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe member: (605)964-3813
Alice Alexandrescu, Dakota Rural Action member: (716) 803-3081
Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network KXL Organizer: (507)412-7609
In lead-up to PUC and Congressional votes, coalition of grassroots activists take action across
South Dakota to protest the Keystone XL pipeline
Pierre, SD, – A grassroots coalition of landowners, native leaders, and allied supporters are taking action across South Dakota this week to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and raise awareness of the unified opposition to the project. These actions will precede the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission meeting on Tuesday, January 6 and an US Congress KXL bill vote expected to take place on Friday.
This grassroots coalition is called NO KXL DAKOTA and is comprised of South Dakota ranchers, farmers, citizens of Lakota/Dakota nations, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Dakota Rural Action, and other South Dakotans. Many of these coalition members are among the 40 parties that have filed to intervene in Transcanada’s application for a Keystone XL South Dakota permit re-approval.
The protests on Monday, January 5 will take place at the downtown parking ramp in Rapid City at 7:30am, and will start at 10th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls at 2:00pm. On January 6th, following the PUC meeting at 9:30am, there will be a multi-denomination #NOKXL Prayer Rally in the State Capitol building rotunda.
“One of the great things about South Dakotans is that we pride ourselves on common sense, and resiliency,” says Vermillion resident Alice Alexandrescu. “Both of these traits are dishonored by the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. We are turning away from hydrocarbons, the oil tycoons are growing desperate and they are trying to make us feel desperate too. We’re smarter than that.”
TransCanada filed for certification on September 15, 2014. On Tuesday, the PUC will hear a motion to dismiss the application outright, filed on behalf of the Yankton Sioux Tribe.
“The movement to stop the Keystone pipeline is growing in South Dakota,” said Joye Braun, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe member and activist. “We will continue in our efforts to build resistance to this project knowing that we will succeed.”
Press coverage of No KXL Dakota protests:
http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/protests-planned-in-sd-against-keystone-pipeline/?id=174061
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