Resolution Opposing The Dakota Access Pipeline

Resolution Opposing The Dakota Access Pipeline

WHEREAS, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline would carry as many as 570,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day for over 1,000 miles from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois, passing over sensitive landscapes including treaty-protected land containing recognized cultural resources and across or under 209 rivers, creeks, and tributaries, including the pristine Missouri River, which provides drinking water and irrigates agricultural land in communities across the Midwest; and

WHEREAS, despite deep opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, farmers, scientists, environmental groups and other Tribal nations along the proposed route, and without Tribal consultation or meaningful environmental review as required by federal law, in July 2016 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit allowing construction of the fracked oil pipeline to move forward; and

WHEREAS, Americans recognize our responsibility to respect and protect the rights of Tribal nations and to honor their culture; and

WHEREAS, all people require clean water to sustain life and we are all responsible for protecting the clean water resources entrusted to us; and

WHEREAS, there is growing international recognition that expanded reliance on fossil fuels is threatening the survival of people world-wide through global warming.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Mayor and City Council of Urbana, Illinois that we support the efforts of the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota to raise awareness of this threat to American Indians, to clean water and to the world’s climate; and we call on our representatives in Congress and on our representatives in the Illinois Legislature to:

1. ask President Obama to require a thorough review of the construction permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline, and to
2. ask President Obama to require a review of the federal requirements for pipeline construction to consider the impact on Tribal nations, on water and on global warming.

PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL this 20th day of September, 2016