Human Rights

The entire nuclear fuel chain involves the release of radioactivity, contamination of the environment and damage to human health. Most often, communities of color, indigenous peoples or those of low-income are targeted to bear the brunt of these impacts, particularly the damaging health and environmental effects of uranium mining. The nuclear power industry inevitably violates human rights. While some of our human rights news can be found here, we also focus specifically on this area on out new platform, Beyond Nuclear International.

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Wednesday
Feb012017

#NoDAPL: We fight on

Action alert from Sara Shor, 350.org:

Friends,

Last week Donald Trump told the US Army Corps of Engineers to stop their comprehensive environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline. It's up to us to deny that request. Sorry, Donald.

Yesterday, things got worse. This review moved one step closer to being scrapped as the Acting Secretary of the Army Corps directed them to grant the final permit needed. It could happen any time now and construction could resume - unless we flood the Army Corps with comments telling them to continue their full environmental review of the pipeline.

If we succeed, DAPL will be forced through a multi-month review of its impact on drinking water, tribal rights and the climate. The only way to approve this pipeline without conducting the review would be to to disregard the hundreds of thousands of comments from people like you.

Join the resistance: send a comment to the Army Corps of Engineers demanding a comprehensive environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose drinking water and sacred sites have been desecrated by this pipeline, already announced plans to sue to stop any action to expedite DAPL. Every comment we send bolsters their legal case that the federal government would be abandoning their own rules and procedures by illegally forcing the project through.

Not only is Trump's administration full of Big Oil cronies, he also owns stock in the company behind Dakota Access. Illegally forcing this project through is an obvious example of corruption -- not to mention a gross violation of Indigenous rights and the science of climate action.

To be honest, he's holding a lot of the cards in this fight. But he's also facing some of the most dedicated and most effective grassroots organizers in North America -- the indigenous leaders who brought over 500 tribes together in this historic fight, the hundreds and thousands of people who stood out in the cold in North Dakota with them, not to mention the millions of people supporting this fight around the country, and the rest of the world -- and I will never rule them out.

It's our job to have their backs, and we can do that by flooding the Army Corps with comments against DAPL and fighting Trump's plan to fast track this pipeline.

If the first 10 days of Trump's administration have shown us anything, it's that people are ready to resist in unheard of numbers. Let's keep the pressure on.

Sara

Tuesday
Jan312017

[Trump] Administration Orders Easement For Construction Of Dakota Access Pipeline

As reported by NPR. The Washington Post has also reported on this story, with quotes from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, as well as its legal counsel, Earthjustice.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has responded.

So too has the Indigenous Environmental Network.

Honor the Earth issued the following statement just before 10pm Eastern:

REPORT BREAKING: Congressman Cramer says the Army Corps will issue the final DAPL permit- this would circumvent the EIS process and allow the company to drill immediately.

This is the trigger for the call to action. This is the moment to take a stand when our water is under attack. #NoDAPL

Tuesday
Jan312017

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe response to recent Trump/USACE actions re: DAPL

Monday
Jan302017

Army Corps Opens Public Comment on Dakota Access Pipeline

As reported by Democracy Now!:

Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers has begun accepting public comments on an environmental impact statement for the Dakota Access pipeline. Members of the public have until February 20 to weigh in on the proposed $3.8 billion project, which has faced months of resistance from members of hundreds of indigenous nations, as well as their non-Native allies.

[See all of Democracy Now!'s coverage from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation, and related crude oil pipeline and Native American environmental justice coverage, here.]

Friday
Jan272017

SumOfUs: Standing Rock action alert

Trump just signed orders smoothing the construction for the destructive Dakota Access Pipeline.

His announcement is no surprise -- we've been expecting him to roll back former President Obama's decision since November. In preparation, we've been helping plan the next international day of action targeting banks to divest from the dangerous project, which would endanger the water and sacred burial grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

250,000 SumOfUs members have already signed the petition asking banks to pull their investments from the pipeline. Can you help us get as many signatures as possible strong before the next international day of action by sharing this campaign on Facebook?

SHARE ON FACEBOOK

We know targeting banks to stop financially supporting this dangerous pipeline works -- we’ve already made some progress last November. Two days after we delivered hundreds of thousands of SumOfUs members’ signatures to Norway-based Bank DNB's headquarters, it pulled its investment in the pipeline. If we get more banks to pull out -- we can stop this pipeline from being built.

Please share this campaign with your friends on Facebook or copy and share this email if you prefer:

Dear Friends, 

Trump just gave the green light to the destructive Dakota Pipeline. Now, more than ever, we need to go after the banks that fund the pipeline and ask them to divest from the project.

We know targeting banks on this project works -- two days after a group I am apart of, SumOfUs, delivered hundreds of thousands of petition signatures asking Norway-based Bank DNB's headquarters to pull investment in the pipeline -- they listened! If we get more banks to pull out -- we can stop this pipeline from being built.

Will you join me and sign the petition: https://actions.sumofus.org/a/banks-need-to-divest-from-the-dakota-access-pipeline-now/?source=taf

Thank you