The Rude Pundit: It's Columbus Day, So We May as Well Kill Some More Indians

[meegbear]

So by now, you probably haven't heard much about the Keystone XL pipeline because no one on the TV is squawking loudly because it's not as glamorously conspiratorially evil-sounding as Solyndra. Also, because most politicians of both parties love that filthy oil lucre. Really quickly: Keystone XL would be the next really long pipeline, taking delicious crude from the wild tar sand fields of Alberta, Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. Because it crosses a border, the State Department has to approve it. Environmentalists oppose it because the company, TransCanada, is not, as one might expect a Toronto tranny bar but is, in fact, a really huge energy corporation and, as such, it has polluted the shit out of the environment. In fact, a previous pipeline sucked so badly that the U.S. shut it down because it leaked a dozen times in a year.

What does this have to do with Indians? Well, see, the Keystone XL pipeline would go through the tribal lands of many different indigenous people in the United States and Canada, possibly polluting water sources that, you know, keep them alive. As a resolution by the National Council of American Indians put it, the proposed pipeline "crosses through Indian country in northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, near and potentially over, many culturally significant areas for Tribal Nations within those provinces and states;" and, based on the record of Keystone and other pipelines, "it is probable that further environmental disasters will occur in Indian country if the new pipeline is allowed to be constructed."

For instance, the proposed route of the pipeline would take it right across the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System in South Dakota, among others. And according to treaties with the U.S. government, the tribes are supposed to have approval of such things. As the United Tribes of North Dakota said, "The U. S. Department of State did not properly consult with the Tribes along the route of the Keystone Excel Pipeline and, as a result of the mechanisms used for what consultation was provided, the affected Tribal Nations were not provided the opportunity for 'free and informed consent; regarding the construction of the pipeline." They don't want it (and some have been arrested protesting it). So, in other words, if the Obama administration, which just finished holding hearings on the pipeline (which included an environmental impact statement done by a TransCanada contractor), approves the pipeline, it will violate treaties with Indian tribes and endanger the health of Native Americans. It's comforting to know that some things in America never change.

Of course, it's oil we're talking about, and no one can stop it, even if it's the filthiest, most environment-degrading kind of oil. All review is done now. It's up to Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, and President Obama. And how do you think that's gonna go?

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[Odin2005]

1. K&R

[CopingBarker]

2. So what about rest of the land the rest of the pipeline crosses?

Unless this thing hopscotches between reservations I don't think the Tribes have any special status that the rest of us don't.

[hedgehog]

3. Yes, they do. Read the post. In theory, the reservations are

sovereign territory.

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[Cool Logic]

5. Actually, Columbus did not discover America; thus, he did not kill Indians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

[RC]

6. And in the end, we will scrap up our asphalt covered streets and refine that into gasoline

Then what will we use? Tires?

[Jamastiene]

7. K&R

I still wonder why all the claims that this white guy or that white guy "discovered" America. There were tribes upon tribes of people ALREADY living here when they got here. It is kind of ridiculous to claim to discover something that already has numerous inhabitants living there. Then again, even to this day, entire native tribes full of living, breathing human beings are still routinely ignored and treated less than human by the white people.

[PufPuf23]

8. Another "win" for POTUS Obama et al against American Indians

Under the radar but a "win" is the settlement of Cobell vs Salazar (previously called Cobell vs other Secretaries of the Interior). Cobell was a class action for many Tribes and the longest class action lawsuit ever in the USA).

Most Indians especially leaders getting some $$ now don't get or are deliberately ignorant of the repercussions: the sum total of BIA mismanagement of Tribal Reservations and Indian Allotments in the USA was settled for $3.4 Billion of which $1.4 Billion was cash and the remainder repurchase or replacement of Indian lands sold out of Trust by the BIA. The settlement is less than 2 cents on the dollar.

For example, old-growth redwood and Douglas-fir lands were sold by the BIA on the Yurok Reservation (along Klamath River of north coast California) alone represents damages of more than $3.4 billion. Simpson Timber company owns more of the Yurok Reservation than the Yuroks.

Cobell vs Salazar settled all remaining monetary claims of the American Indian and is the sealing wax of the genocide.

Go Obama and Salazar.

This pipeline is an environmental nightmare. One of the key lobbyists was one of HR Clinton's campaign managers.

[Scuba]

9. A small example of racism against Native Americans from today's Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel blogs...

"...the whining Indians, who make billions off casinos and can shut up..."


Article regarding Scott Walker's plan to let a mining company destroy a big chunk of Wisconsin for short-term profits. Our NA brothers and sisters are leading the fight against this destruction.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/mining-legislation-faces-tough-issues-131432408.html?page=1