After accepting a plea deal to charges of negligent homicide in a Bethel court on Monday, Derek Adams of Nunam Iqua has been sentenced to four years in prison and a decade of probation.
Adams has already served his jail time while awaiting sentencing, and is now a free man.
The sentencing comes after three villages banished Adams for a range of reasons which include starting a fire that killed three people.
Adams’ case has highlighted a debate over the state’s obligation to respect tribal court decisions.
We work very hard to find out how various words and names, particularly Alaskan Native terms, are properly spoken so that we can pronounce them in our radio and web broadcasts.
Rep. Benjamin Nageak is a Democratic member of the Alaska House of Representatives since 2013. We have heard his last name pronounced several different ways.
KTOO and Alaska Public government reporter Andrew Kitchenman asked Nageak to pronounce his name during a taped phone conversation.
Kitchenman wrote in a staff email: “The key is this ‘g’ in Inupiat is a sound that we don’t really make in English — kind of soft ‘g’ in the back of the throat that we don’t make in English.”
“I’ve stuck with ‘Nah-gee-AK’ as a pronouncer, since I’ve heard him say it this way on the House floor, but (nag-ee-yak) is OK too,” Kitchenman said
Demonstrators in downtown Anchorage protest the Dakota Access pipeline. (Photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska Public Media)
About 60 demonstrators gathered in downtown Anchorage Saturday afternoon to sing, dance and carry signs. Many Alaska Native people were there to support North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux tribe in their fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe is afraid the pipeline could contaminate their water; the developer claims the pipeline is the safest way to carry the oil. The tribe’s protests have gained national attention.
Late last week, the Obama administration paused the development of the pipeline following the tribe’s protests.
The demonstrators in Anchorage said the pipeline developer isn’t listening to the Standing Rock Sioux’s voices. But because oil is such a big part of Alaska’s economy, some demonstrators also said protesting the North Dakota pipeline wasn’t as simple as being for or against oil.
Kelli Reed organized the demonstration.
“This demonstration is not opposed to oil,” said Reed. “Oil production on the North Slope has been very beneficial for Native Alaskans who live up there. However, what we are objecting to is a silencing of the voice of a people called the Lakota Sioux.”
Gregory Nothstine, a member of the Native Village of Wales, said he supports the Standing Rock Sioux because he feels Native rights are often ignored. But he’s okay with oil development if it’s done responsibly.
“Being for or against the oil pipelines here in Alaska? They’ve been providing revenues for our state for years,” Nothstine said.
Ada Coyle and her daughter Ashley Doctolero were at the demonstration; Doctolero was wearing the traditional regalia of the Kodiak Island’s Sugpiaq people. Coyle said protecting water should be the number one priority.
“You can’t drink or eat money, but the water is there,” said Coyle. “We need it to drink, we need it to cook with, shower with, to cleanse us, you know?”
Native Americans march on Sunday to a sacred site they say was disturbed by bulldozers working on the Dakota Access Pipeline, near an encampment where hundreds of people have gathered to join the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s protest.(Photo by Robyn Beck /AFP/Getty Images)
A federal judge has denied a Native American tribe’s request for an injunction that would have temporarily halted construction on the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, set to carry crude oil across four states.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says the pipeline route crosses under the Missouri River near its reservation and puts their drinking water and sacred lands at risk. Outrage over the pipeline has galvanized Native American tribes and environmentalists across the U.S.
The Standing Rock Sioux says it wasn’t adequately consulted by the federal agency authorizing the permits for the pipeline, and sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In Friday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg acknowledged that “the United States’ relationship with the Indian tribes has been contentious and tragic.” But he went on to say that the Army Corps “likely complied” with its obligation to consult the tribe, adding that the tribe “has not shown it will suffer injury that would be prevented by any injunction the Court could issue.”
If you haven’t been following the controversy, here are some basics.
The Pipeline
The $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline is set to span some 1,200 miles, from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to Patoka, Ill. According to Dallas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, “it will transport approximately 470,000 barrels per day with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels per day or more — which could represent approximately half of Bakken current daily crude oil production.” The company says that, pending regulatory approvals, oil was to start flowing late this year.
The pipeline’s original route crossed the Missouri River near Bismarck, N.D., The New Yorker reported, “but authorities worried that an oil spill there would have wrecked the state capital’s drinking water. So they moved the crossing to half a mile from the reservation, across land that was taken from the tribe in 1958, without their consent.”
The Arguments
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says the pipeline construction could desecrate sacred lands, including grave sites and culturally important stone features. And they fear that any pipeline leak at the Missouri crossing, which lies just upstream of the reservation that straddles the Dakotas, could contaminate crucial drinking water.
Tribal leaders also say they weren’t included in discussions during the planning process for the Dakota Access Pipeline. “My nation’s history is at risk because the pipeline builders and the Army Corps failed to consult the tribe when planning the pipeline, and routed it through areas of cultural and historical significance, which will be destroyed,” David Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said in a court filing.
For its part, the company maintains that the pipeline is safe — indeed, Energy Transfer Partners says government statistics show “pipelines are the safest mode of transporting crude oil.” It adds that the Dakota Access “will be built and operated using the most advanced technology and monitoring systems to make it even safer.”
And the pipeline would reduce the use of rail and truck transport of crude oil, according to Energy Transfer Partners.
The Lawsuit
The Standing Rock Sioux sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in July, accusing it of improperly granting permits authorizing the construction. Acting on the tribe’s behalf, the environmental group Earthjustice filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
It “alleges that the Corps violated multiple federal statutes, including the Clean Water Act, National Historic Protection Act, and National Environmental Policy Act, when it issued the permits,” according to Earthjustice. A subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, Dakota Access LLC, is also party to the lawsuit.
The tribe sought an injunction to halt construction along portions of the pipeline — those authorized by the Army Corps — while the lawsuit plays out.
In today’s ruling, Boasberg said the tribe had not demonstrated that it would be harmed by construction in areas that received permits from the Army Corps. “The Tribe has not carried its burden to demonstrate that the Court could prevent damage to important cultural resources by enjoining the Corps’ DAPL-related permitting,” the decision reads.
Separately, in response to the ongoing construction work, the tribe filed an emergency motion on Sunday, seeking protection for a specific area along the planned route that contains sites sacred to the tribe. The judge issued a temporary restraining order for a portion of the area, effectively halting construction. It was less than the tribe had requested and expires at midnight tonight.
Rising Tensions
Tribe members and their supporters have been camping along the border of the reservation near the construction site for several months, and the demonstration grew significantly when construction in the area began in early August. They call themselves water protectors, rather than protesters.
The gathering has attracted Native Americans from tribes across the country in a show of solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Numbers have grown from a handful to thousands.
Construction on the controversial section of the pipeline began in mid-August. It halted briefly amid protests but started up again earlier this month, a day after after the tribe declared to the court that it had recently discovered areas along the pipeline route that are culturally and spiritually significant. The tribe said in a court filing that the work “desecrated and destroyed” the sacred sites.
Tensions dramatically escalated over the weekend, resulting in violence. “What happened is some protesters who’ve been camped out near this construction area broke through a fence to access this construction site and were met with some private security guards and guard dogs hired by the pipeline company,” as reporter Amy Sisk of the public radio collaboration Inside Energy said in an NPR Live discussion on Facebook.
“Law enforcement says the protesters attacked the security guards and the dogs,” she said, adding that protesters say the dogs “actually bit some of the protesters.”
And ahead of today’s decision, David Archambault II, chairman of the tribe, called for calm. “We call upon all water protectors to greet any decision with peace and order,” he said in a statement on the tribe’s Facebook page. “Even if the outcome of the court’s ruling is not in our favor, we will continue to explore every lawful option and fight against the construction of the pipeline.”
Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Alaskans arrive on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to join the protest (Photo courtesy One People Canoe Society).
Members of the One People Canoe Society from Juneau paddled in unison today down the Missouri River in North Dakota. The trip is a show of solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux who are protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline Project.
If built, the pipeline would carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Developer Energy Transfer Partners claims the pipeline is the safest way to carry the oil. But the Standing Rock Sioux are worried the pipeline could contaminate their water.
Catherine Edwards, who is from Juneau but now lives in Washington, is a member of the Tlingit and Haida Central Council. She was standing on a windy hill waiting for her daughter, Miciana Hutcherson, who was helping paddle the canoe. Alaskan and One People Canoe Society member Jim Zeller owns the canoe.
Before they started down the river, Edwards said the group held a ceremony with water from the Pacific Northwest.
“They brought the water down with them… poured it into the river, and said, ‘we now stand with you in your body of water, to keep it protected, to keep it safe,'” said Edwards.
Edwards said there’s a feeling of unity among the protesters.
“You can feel it, you can feel it’s a movement, you can feel it’s a shift, you can feel people coming together and [saying] ‘hi, where are you from, these are our issues, our issues are similar to yours,'” Edwards said. “We all want to stand up here and say, ‘we’re done, we’re done with this. You can’t just walk over us anymore.'”
Several national news outlets have reported some violent clashes between demonstrators and private security guards; the North Dakota governor called in the National Guard on Thursday. But Edwards said organizers are emphasizing non-violent protests.
On Friday, a federal court is expected to rule on whether pipeline construction goes forward.
Authorities in North Dakota are sending officers from across the state to the site of a protest about an oil pipeline in anticipation of a court ruling on the issue.
Violence broke out at the protest site on Saturday.
Democracy Now reports protesters were attacked by private security forces with dogs and pepper spray.
The Standing Rock Sioux asked a U.S. District Court to temporarily stop construction on the Dakota Access pipeline. A ruling is expected Friday.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday in a statement that it’s “preparing and planning for all scenarios that may occur in response to the federal court ruling.”
The statement didn’t say how many officers were being added.
No law enforcement personnel were present Saturday when the violence started.
The crowd dispersed when officers arrived and no one was arrested, authorities said.
A handful of Alaska tribal members are in North Dakota as part of the protest efforts.
In a video posted to Facebook Tuesday, a pickup with “907” written on its window towed a canoe on a trailer flying a Tlingit and Haida tribal flag.
Alaskans opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline are gathering in downtown Anchorage on Saturday.
An event invitation sent out over Facebook is asking participants to bring signs, dances, and songs in support of water rights.
According to one post, organizers are also collecting outdoor supplies and subsistence foods like “salmon, caribou, (and) moose meat” to bring to people camped at the Sacred Stone site.
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