Standing Rock to Challenge DAPL in Court Based on Water Rights; Trump Honors President Jackson, aka Indian Killer

The Standing Rock Nation will challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in court  based in part on its federal water rights, according to Chairman David Archambault II. Archambault made his comments in an interview with MSNBC, posted online by Indian Country Today.

Archambault cited the “Winters Doctrine” as one reason that DAPL should be denied. According to a summary of the Winters Doctrine by the Congressional Resource Services:

Although the federal government has authority to regulate water, it typically defers to the states to allocate water resources within the state. The federal government maintains certain federal water rights, though, which exist separate from state law. In particular, federal reserved water rights often arise in questions of water allocation related to federal lands, including Indian reservations. Indian reserved water rights were first recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Winters v. United States in 1908. Under the Winters doctrine, when Congress reserves land (i.e., for an Indian reservation), Congress also reserves water sufficient to fulfill the purpose of the reservation.

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: