Calls are mounting for President Biden to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline, after a federal appeals court last month upheld a lower court’s ruling that the pipeline is operating illegally. Indigenous youth braved subzero temperatures Tuesday to run a 93-mile relay to the site of the 2016 #NoDAPL protests, to draw attention to the issue and call on Biden to shut down the pipeline. Indigenous activists Phyllis Young and Chase Iron Eyes with the Lakota People’s Law Project addressed President Biden in a new video.
Phyllis Young: “The court has decided, at every level, that it is illegal. And the truth has prevailed.”
Chase Iron Eyes: “We are fighting for our spirit and our lives, that the human-caused climate catastrophe threatens not only everyone who’s alive at this very moment, but all of our children.”
Last week, five Democratic lawmakers asked Biden in a letter to shut down DAPL, writing, “By shutting down this illegal pipeline, you can continue to show your administration values the environment and the rights of Indigenous communities more than the profits of outdated fossil fuel industries.” Meanwhile, over 200 prominent activists, Indigenous leaders and celebrities urged the Biden administration to shut down DAPL in a letter published Monday. A court hearing scheduled for today to determine whether the pipeline must be shut down during its environmental review was canceled.