DAPL Updates: Seattle Cuts Ties With Wells Fargo Over Pipeline; ND Legislature Eyes Tougher Penalties for Protestors

Repercussions for both supporters and opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) are piling up.

The City of Seattle is pulling its business from Wells Fargo, some $3 billion in accounts, due to both the bank’s support for DAPL and its bogus account scandal, news reports say. Meanwhile, the state of North Dakota is considering bills to toughen punishments for the kinds of protests taking place against DAPL, a legislative trend that is sweeping the country.

One bill in the North Dakota legislative hopper would remove liability for drivers who run over protesters standing in a roadway, as long as it is “unintentional.”

Unitarians Join Shareholder Action Against DAPL Investor, Big Questions Looming

This is the third in a series of blogs exploring how religious communities are reviewing their investments for ties to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Part I reviewed ELCA investment policies. Part II reviewed the Presbyterian Church’s investment policies. Today, we look at the Unitarian Universalist Association.

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is one of several religious communities asking tough questions and putting pressure on companies involved with the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

The pressure comes in the form of shareholder actions. Religious communities tend to have large investments, both endowments and retirement funds, and hold stocks in a variety of companies. In the UUA’s case, it has an endowment of $170 million and a retirement plan with about $300 million. Its investments include Marathon Petroleum, a company which has contracted to use the pipeline. (Marathon also has a pending purchase offer to become a minority owner of the pipeline, according to an Inside Climate News Fact Sheet.)

The UUA has joined in a shareholder action to press Marathon for more information on the pipeline. This is not divestment, but it is needed pressure; it is a possible step toward divestment if investors find the answers unsatisfactory.

The issue is coming to a head. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had denied the project a needed easement under the Missouri River; it was going to require more environment study. The Trump administration has given indications that it will proceed with DAPL (as well as restart discussions about the Keystone XL pipeline. See yesterday’s blog.)

A green light on the project will raise the stakes for those organizations that have pledged to support Standing Rock Nation and its opposition to DAPL — particularly those organizations with money invested in companies supporting the pipeline.

MPR Misses the Boat on DAPL Divestment Story

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) ran a piece today headlined: Protest appeared to misstate U.S. Bank’s role in Dakota Access pipeline.

At best, the story makes a technical point. At worst, the headline casts DAPL opponents in an unfair light, claiming they are “misstating” the facts — that is, misrepresenting them or even lying. The story certainly misses the larger political picture.

DAPL’s Financial Risks Raise Red Flags on Wall Street; Banks Behind DAPL Hire Independent Human Rights Expert

(Credit: Wikimedia)

We wrote Thursday about how the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is engaged in shareholder advocacy around the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The ELCA is one of several religious organizations raising moral questions of corporate social responsibility regarding DAPL.

In a new turn of events, Wall Street, too, is raising red flags about DAPL. Financial markets are simply looking at the bottom line, apparently becoming skittish of companies investing in the pipeline because of unidentified financial risks. They are asking tough questions, according to Bloomberg, a business news service.

The following is an excerpt from a Dec. 1 Bloomberg story headlined: Investors Take Stand on Dakota Access Pipeline:

Investors concerned about the Dakota Access Pipeline have started submitting shareholder proposals to the energy companies building the pipeline as well as to the lenders behind it, urging the companies to better disclose the risks to their business from the controversial investment.

The third largest U.S. pension plan, the $178.6 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, is one of the investors leading the charge.

Click on the link above for the full story. It’s hard to know how optimistic to be about these reports, but we’ll take the good news where we can get it.

Meanwhile, companies providing credit for the pipeline seem concerned about potential risks, too. For more positive news, keep reading.

ELCA Brings Shareholder Resolution on DAPL to Enbridge, a Major Pipeline Investor

This is the first in a series of blogs exploring how religious communities who are Standing with Standing Rock are reviewing their investments for ties to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Will their investments change?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has taken a formal position supporting the Standing Rock Nation and its opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). It also is flexing its financial muscle, looking at how its investments are supporting DAPL and asking tough questions of Enbridge, a major DAPL investor.

There is a growing effort to get individuals and institutions to divest from companies tied to DAPL. Divesting is one option outside of the political arena where people can make a difference and vote their values with their money.

The ELCA is a large institutional investor, socking away money for retirement plans for its many employees. It’s the kind of big investor that can influence a corporation. As of the third quarter of 2016, the ELCA had $7.8 billion managed by Portico Benefit Services. (Of that, $6.4 billion was in retirement plans).

The ELCA’s  investments include Enbridge Inc. “whose U.S. vehicle, Enbridge Energy Partners, owns a 27.5% interest in the Dakota Access Pipeline project,” according to Rev. Jeff Thiemann, Portico’s President and CEO. According to a statement Rev. Thiemann made to Healing Minnesota Stories on Dec. 8:

Portico just this week, along with several other investors, submitted a shareholder resolution to Enbridge Inc. [regarding DAPL] … This resolution calls on Enbridge to prepare a report to shareholders detailing the due diligence process used by Enbridge, its affiliates, and subsidiaries to identify and address social and environmental risks, including Indigenous rights risks, when reviewing potential acquisitions.

Sisters of St. Joseph of Corondelet Stand with Standing Rock; #DivestFromDAPL Targets City of Minneapolis; and More

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Corondelet have issued a powerful Statement of Solidarity with the Native Peoples of Standing Rock.

The Order includes 1,102 vowed sisters worldwide. The statement expresses their commitment “to stand in solidarity with our Native American sisters and brothers, especially of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.” Issued Nov. 30, it continues: “We stand with the community of Standing Rock … in their opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline and their peaceful efforts to protect their water and sovereignty.”

A number of Protestant denominations have issued such statements. (They are archived on our page on the Dakota Access Pipeline.) This is the first statement we have seen from a Catholic order.

Sami, Indigenous People of Northern Europe, Played Role in DAPL Divestment

Sápmi is the name of the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

A second Norwegian bank has pulled its funding from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), according to a Nov. 25 story in EcoWatch. Odin Fund Management, one of Norway’s leading fund managers, said it sold $23.8 million worth of shares in companies involved with the pipeline.

We blogged earlier that DNB, Norway’s largest bank, had decided to divest its assets from DAPL (though it still has a line of credit to the project).

Why Norway?

Norway is an ocean and a half-continent away from Standing Rock. Is it that Norway is simply a more  socially-minded country? Perhaps. But there also is a fascinating backstory that could be part of the explanation. The Sámi people, indigenous people of northern Europe, seem to have played an important role in pressuring DNB to divest.

It’s a story of cross Atlantic indigenous connections and a bit of serendipity.

Non-Violent Protest Success: Wells Fargo Agrees to Meet with Standing Rock Elders About DAPL

From Unicorn Riot site

Wells Fargo has agreed today to meet with Standing Rock elders about the bank’s funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). It was a victory for non-violent protesting. The decision followed a four-hour “lock-down” at Wells Fargo’s downtown Minneapolis headquarters, sparked non-Native allies opposed to DAPL.

Thanks to Unicorn Riot for providing a live feed of the event. (It is still on line and available for viewing.) It was not clear from what I saw what group (if any) was leading the protest. Six people had locked themselves together in two groups of three. Tubes connected their arm to form a chain to keep people from accessing elevators. A number of other people were in the building’s  lobby providing moral support and communications.

The action succeeded in getting a meeting with Jon R. Campbell, Head of Government and Community Relations for Wells Fargo & Company. The group hoped for a press release and a public announcement. They settled for a letter.

Local Actions Planned Thursday Against Banks Backing DAPL; Veterans Stand For Standing Rock, and More

From the National Day of Action at the Army Corps of Engineers headquarters in St. Paul.

The Camp of the Sacred Stones and Red Warrior Camp are calling on allies to put pressure on the financial institutions backing the Dakota Access pipeline to divest, according to a Facebook post from the two groups, and reprinted below.

“It is time banks stop using our money to finance crude oil pipelines that violate indigenous treaty rights and put our drinking water and climate at risk,” it said. “It is time to end the escalating police violence at Standing Rock.”

“Until US Bank and Wells Fargo withdraw their money from the Dakota Access pipeline, we will withdraw our money from these banks.”

Sacred Stones Camp and Red Warrior Camp make the following requests: