Madison City Council Passes Resolution Expressing Solidarity with Resistance Against the Dakota Access Pipeline

A group of women marching at Sacred Stone Camp (Photo credit: Joe Brusky of Overpass Light Brigade).
A group of women marching at Sacred Stone Camp (Photo credit: Joe Brusky of Overpass Light Brigade).

The Madison City Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline on Tuesday night.

“WHEREAS, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline would carry as many as 570,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day for more than 1,100 miles from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois, passing over sensitive landscapes including treaty protected land containing recognized cultural resources and across or under 209 rivers, creeks, and tributaries including the pristine Missouri River, which provides drinking water and irrigates agricultural land in communities across the Midwest; and,
WHEREAS, the proposed pipeline violates the collective environmental human rights of the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to life, health, clean water, and a clean environment, treaty rights secured to them by the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaties between the Oceti Sakowin and the United States, as well as by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 3, 25; ICCPR, Art. 6; the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, Art. 7, 24, 29; and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, Art. 1.; and,
WHEREAS, despite deep opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as well as farmers, scientists, more than 30 environmental advocacy groups, and other Tribal nations along the proposed route, and without Tribal consultation or meaningful environmental review as required by federal law, in July, 2016 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit allowing construction of the fracked oil pipeline to move forward; and,
WHEREAS, in a show of monumental cooperation not seen in the 140 years since the Battle of the Greasy Grass or Custer’s Last Stand, members of the Lakota Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have united with the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Fires Council – which include the confederation of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations – and established a peaceful encampment in Cannon Ball, North Dakota known as the Sacred Stone Camp to resist the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline with a cultural and spiritual presence; and,
WHEREAS, on August 15, 2016 the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council led by Tribal Chairman David Archambault II called on Tribal nations and Indigenous people around the world to issue resolutions in support of the Standing Rock Sioux and the Sacred Stone Camp; and,
WHEREAS, more than 200 tribal nations and a growing number of US cities have formally passed such resolutions; and,
WHEREAS: the City of Madison is located on the traditional homelands of the Ho-Chunk people and their ancestors; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison recognizes the importance of maintaining government to government relationships between tribal governments and local, state and federal governments established by treaties between tribes and the US Government and has recognized Indigenous Peoples Day since 2005; and,
WHEREAS, all 11 federally recognized tribal governments in the State of Wisconsin have formally expressed their support of the Standing Rock Sioux in their treaty rights to free and informed consent, and their human rights to clean water; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison is home to a thriving American Indian community, including members of all 11 federally recognized tribes as well as tribes from across the continent; and,
WHEREAS, the State of Wisconsin, County of Dane and City of Madison have codified protection of sacred and otherwise culturally important sites in law and ordinance; and,
WHEREAS, the highest concentration of Late Woodland effigy mounds is centered in Madison and Dane County, although most of them were destroyed by the middle of the 20th century; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison understands the vital importance of protecting our natural resources, in particular the water,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Madison, stand in support of the Indigenous opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline and call on all residents of Madison to raise awareness about this important struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice and to support the Sacred Stone Camp efforts in any way they can; and,
FINALLY, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Madison calls upon the United States and the Army Corps of Engineers to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of the Standing Rock Sioux and any other tribe whose resources could be impacted by the pipeline prior to taking any federal action regarding the DAPL that would harm or destroy tribal ancestral lands, waters and sacred sites.

Madison City Council resolution sponsored by Rebecca Kemble, Marsha Rummel, Samba Baldeh, Ledell Zellers, Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, David Ahrens, Mike Verveer, Sara Eskrich,and Amanda Hall and Mayor Paul Soglin

We need every city in America to pass similar resolutions. What are you waiting for?

#noDAPL #WaterIsLife