Mni Wiconi In 2016, the cry rose up within the heart of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota territory that a great black snake was trying to make its way across our traditional and treaty territory. That snake was the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The grassroots people on the Standing Rock reservation asked for help. Our people on Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations heard the call and went to help our relatives to the north. On April 1, 2016, a camp was established near Cannonball ND. The camp is based on prayer and protection of grandmother earth, these became the guiding principles for many of the other camps to come.

Standing Rock, Cheyenne River Sioux, and Yankton Sioux started litigation to try and stop this black snake before it could ever be placed in our sacred Great Sioux Nation treaty territory.

As time went on a call went out for our allies to come and stand with the people of the Great Sioux Nation and many of you came. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe will forever be grateful for your sacrifice. Without your help, we could not have raised the concerns, or been heard on such an international platform. Even with the media blackout, even with the governments of the United States and North Dakota trying to silence us, it was you that that helped us get this far. We thank you.

We are continuing to fight Dakota Access in the courts and just won a small victory in the United States Federal District Court. We are hopeful that law will prevail and we can stop the flow of oil through this pipeline.

Even as we continue to fight DAPL the Great Sioux Nation continues to push forward with the resistance to the Keystone XL pipeline by TransCanada. This pipeline was authorized by President Trump at the same time DAPL was given an expedited approval.

We continue to remain steadfast in our opposition to the Dewey Burdock Uranium project threatening our sacred Black Hills.

Three water fights. Three fights for survival, yet we know that through prayer, vigilance and the continued support of allies like you we can win.

Keystone XL (KXL) The Keystone XL was thought to have been stopped by President Obama, however, President Trump brought it back onto the national front when he approved Dakota Access in January of this year. KXL is a pipeline that plans to run from Canada through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska going to Cushing OK where it will hook into the completed southern leg of KXL, traversing over 2000 miles in total carrying tar sands oil the dirtiest oil in the world. This pipeline will come within 1 (one) mile of the Southwest Border of our Reservation. The pipeline will cut directly through the traditional settlements of Mnicoujou Lakota Chief Spotted Elk a.k.a. “Chief Bigfoot”. This was the last location Chief Spotted Elk camped before his murder at the hands of the 7th Calvary during the 1889 Wounded Knee Massacre. This location is home to numerous cultural resources and sacred religious sites from generation after generation of Lakota peoples.

Since Trump has renewed this threat, what we know is that there is no approved route through Nebraska and there were lots of concerns regarding eminent domain issues in Nebraska. The proposed route through South Dakota is approved however there is still ongoing litigation. Individual interveners and others have sued the South Dakota PUC and we are awaiting the judicial outcome of those legal proceedings.

TransCanada has announced that they expect to start preconstruction in a first stage of construction by the spring.

Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)Energy Transfer Partners announced that oil is flowing through the pipeline. However this past week it was announced that a federal judge is asking for more information based on three issues that were raised in the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River court cases in working to stop the flow of oil and reversing the decision of this pipeline based on treaty rights.

1. Corp failed to consider impact of treaty on hunting and fishing rights

2. No spill analysis in environmental justice

3. Corps failed to weigh the fact that project was highly controversial

Additional evidence from both tribes is due on the 21st of June 2017 and a schedule off hearings will be decided to weigh in on the three issues.

Based on this Iowa has filed to stop DAPL citing that there is no Army Corp of Engineers easement and the project failed to meet easement rights for the Missouri River Crossing in ND.

Dewey Burdock Uranium mining

The proposed Dewey-Burdock mine, which would be about 15 miles northwest of Edgemont, would use in-situ mining — a process where oxygenated water is injected into the ground to absorb uranium. The water is then pumped back to the surface, where the uranium would be extracted and processed.

Located in the Sacred Black Hills it threatens aquifers, wild life and a fragile ecosystem as well as being near the headwaters of the Cheyenne River which would threaten the residents of not only the Black Hills but also the residents of the Cheyenne River.