OUR STORY
The water protectors need your help more than ever!
The Water Protector Legal Collective is still fighting 427
criminal cases against water protectors who were arrested in
prayer and nonviolent action opposing the construction and
operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). WPLC is also
mounting an offensive against the Morton County Sheriff and
other agencies who subjected hundreds of water protectors to
brutal repression and wrongful arrests. We need your donations
to successfully defend all of the remaining criminal charges and
to stop the government and security company misconduct and
obtain redress for the water protectors who were harmed.
WPLC is the indigenous led legal team on the ground in North
Dakota. WPLC has been providing legal representation,
coordination and advocacy for all 838 water protectors who have
been arrested in resistance to DAPL since August, 2016. Through
our efforts, 289 cases have been dismissed to date, and there
have only been a handful of convictions for minor charges, none
of which have resulted in jail time. We also work in
collaboration with the Freshet Collective to provide jail and
court support for the arrestees. More cases are being dismissed
each week but we expect to be fighting the criminal cases
through the spring of 2018 and prosecuting the civil litigation
for years.
The pipeline struggle is far from over. Construction of the
DAPL is currently complete and the pipeline is operational,
carrying fracked crude oil from the Bakken fields of North
Dakota, to Patoka, Illinois. On June 14, 2017, a federal court
ruled that the permit hastily granted by the Trump
administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act in
several key respects, including by not adequately considering
the risk of an oil spill, and the impacts of an oil spill on the
Sioux Nations and their treaty rights. But the court has not yet
decided whether it will halt pipeline operation. The pipeline
crosses through unceded lands of the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux
Nation), with many sacred sites, historic cultural sites and
burial sites in its path, and crosses the Missouri River just
north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The Mni Sosa
(Missouri) is the primary source of drinking and agricultural
water for the Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, and Oglala Sioux
nations and sacred and central to their religion and traditions.
This is a crucial time. We need your support.
Mni Wiconi -Water is Life
For More information visit us at:
Facebook page or
www.waterprotectorlegal.org
DONATION OPTIONS
Tax Deductions
:
Donations of any size are needed and appreciated, but
charitable deductions are only available for donations of $100
or more, at
https://www.nlg.org/donate/waterprotectorlegal/
.
Donations < $100:
(No amount is too small, and we are so grateful!): To make a
donation of less than $100 or if a tax deduction is not
required, please donate online right here!
Checks
: You can mail a check payable to "Water Protector
Legal Collective" to PO Box 69, 300 Collins Ave., Mandan,
ND 58554-9998.
