By Robert Boos
...These tribal nations (click here) say the US government has failed to adequately consult and negotiate the matter with them, despite the direct effect the pipeline’s route would have on their lands
“I think that a lot of tribes are really frustrated at the lack of inclusion in this process that's guaranteed through our treaty rights,” says Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network. Goldtooth says their primary concern is that the State Department’s permitting process has overlooked tribal treaties with the federal government.
For example, he says, "the Keystone pipeline passes right through the heart of the Oceti Sacowin Treaty area that was established before the Laramie Treaty back in 1868. A lot of the tribal nations really stick to the wording and negotiated agreements that were made and are treaties and we really encourage the federal government to really stick to those.”
But tribes on both sides of the US-Canada border are also concerned about a range of environmental problems like pollution, accelerated climate effects and potential danger to the tribes' water supply....
