On a chilly Sunday evening I ventured downtown to join a protest in front of Seattle’s Federal Building. The event this time was to draw attention to the plight of the water protectors fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
For those of you unaware, this particular pipeline is slated to be built right through Sioux tribal land, threatening their only water supply.
The protectors now consist of various Native tribal members along with non-native supporters and various celebrities who have camped out near Cannon Ball, ND, since April, and argue that the controversial DAPL will uproot sacred burial ground and potentially contaminate the Missouri River. In addition, they maintain that the land is rightfully theirs due to an 1851 treaty which was never revoked.
Their protests have been met by vicious dog attacks, pepper spray, jail, and water cannons shot at them in subzero temperatures. There were even reports of a teenage girl almost losing her arm after it was nearly blown off by a water cannon. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Senator Bernie Sanders have stood with them in their protest and Sanders even plead their case to the senate, though it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.
This rally urged the city of Seattle to completely end any business with Wells Fargo, one of the many banks underwriting the pipeline. In December Council member Kshama Sawant introduced legislation urging Mayor Ed Murray to cut ties with Wells Fargo due to its investment in the DAPL. The city council will vote on the issue some time this month.
I estimated three to four hundred people, men, women and children were in attendance. A mock up of a bank had been erected and coincidentally, the Wells Fargo bank tower stood next door. People had been going inside to withdraw their money and close their accounts with Wells Fargo and word was they were only letting people in one at a time to do this.
More than two dozen major banks and financial institutions are helping to finance the Dakota Access pipeline. It details how Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions have, combined, extended a $3.75 billion credit line to Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access.
An investigation revealed many of the more than two dozen major banks and financial institutions that are bankrolling the project are also Clinton and Obama donors. This is why Hillary Clinton and President Obama have been largely silent while horrific human rights abuses have been leveled against the water protectors.
President elect Donald Trump’s financial disclosure forms show he has between $500,000 and $1m invested in Energy Transfer Partners, with a further $500,000 to $1m holding in Phillips 66, which will have a 25% stake in the Dakota Access project once completed. The information was disclosed in Trump’s monthly filings to the Federal Election Commission, which requires candidates to disclose their campaign finance information on a regular basis.
Kelcy Warren, chief executive of Energy Transfer Partners, has given $103,000 to elect Trump and handed over a further $66,800 to the Republican National Committee since theTrump secured the GOP’s presidential nomination. Warren made a further $100,000 donation to the Trump Victory Fund, a joint fundraising
committee among Trump’s campaign, the RNC and 11 state parties, on 29 June. A day earlier, the Energy Transfer Partners chief executive doled out $66,800 in two separate donations to the RNC.
For anyone who values human rights or even cares about global warming, it is vital that you close any accounts you may have with these financial institutions. With Donald Trump set to take the reins of this country, we can be sure he will overturn any temporary stoppage Obama has put on this pipeline, so our best bet for stopping this pipeline is to go after the financiers. We took this land away from the Natives who inhabited it when European invaders first set foot on what is now American soil. We cannot repeat this horrific chapter of human rights abuses. It is up to all of us to fight this.
