Brandon Mauai, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Councilmember, and Jan Hasselman, attorney at Earthjustice, explain what transpired at the April 9, 2021, court hearing on the Dakota Access Pipeline and offer their immediate thoughts and reactions.

The controversial Dakota Access Pipeline crosses unceded ancestral lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, near reservation territory, and is the subject of a five-year legal challenge brought by the Tribe. 

DAPL has been operating without a valid permit since a federal judge struck down the U.S. Army Corps’ approval for the pipeline to cross beneath Lake Oahe, in a ruling issued more than a year ago. 

Since President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Tribal leaders and allies have called upon him to shut down DAPL while the Army Corps conducts a court-ordered environmental impact analysis.

(Photo: Indigenous environmental activists demonstrate near Black Lives Matter Plaza on the north side of the White House as part of a protest against oil pipelines, April 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Standing Rock and Earthjustice Offer Reactions Following Key Court Hearing on Dakota Access Pipeline

Earthjustice has a long history of partnering with Native groups and Indigenous communities, and as Native peoples lead from the front lines of many of today’s pivotal environmental fights, these partnerships are more critical than ever. From Alaska to Arizona and Hawai’i to Wisconsin, we partner with and represent more than 70 tribes and Indigenous communities in their efforts to protect their water, safeguard public and tribal land, oppose destructive extractive industries, and preserve their culture and way of life.

In this conversation, held on Mar. 5, Gussie Lord, Earthjustice’s first-ever director of tribal partnerships, and Stefanie Tsosie, senior associate attorney, tribal partnerships discusses the complex legal, cultural, and political issues unique this vital work. This briefing with Earthjustice supporters was moderated by Rebecca Bowe.

Learn more: https://earthjustice.org/features/insider-briefing-lawyers-for-the-seventh-generation

Earthjustice

Insider Briefing: Lawyers for the Seventh Generation

This year, it may seem that crisis, injustice, and unrest have become our collective stasis. In the midst of a pandemic, our society is publically and painfully reckoning with centuries of oppression and exploitation.

As we collectively continue the relentless pursuit of justice, we must also nurture our resilience. With that goal, we want to share some of the stories of hope and inspiration that are helping to light the way. Within the last six months, Earthjustice has achieved critical victories, including a precedent-setting clean water case in the U.S. Supreme Court, the rejection of federal permits in the battle against the Dakota Access pipeline, preventing discriminatory solar fees in Kansas, and curbing pulp mill air pollution.

In this conversation, held on June 11, Earthjustice vice presidents Drew Caputo (Lands, Wildlife & Oceans), Patrice Simms (Healthy Communities), Jill Tauber (Climate & Energy), and Raul Garcia (legislative director for Healthy Communities) discussed these victories, and the other bright spots that are lighting the way for hope in our future.

Learn more: https://earthjustice.org/events/insider-briefing-together-apart-rays-of-hope-in-the-time-of-covid

Image: Mar. 23, 2020 in St. Paul, Minn. (Lorie Shaull / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Insider Briefing:  Together, Apart: Rays of Hope in the Time of COVID

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. 

We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.

Earthjustice

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