NEW YORK – On Friday, October 7th, at 8:00 PM EST, the Thirteenth Annual Native American Music Awards (N.A.M.A.), will be broadcast live from the Seneca Niagara Hotel & Casino by media partner, Indigenous Peoples Music & Single Feather Media, who will produce a live video stream of the awards program. All live coverage will be able to be seen and heard on the Native American Music Awards home page, NAMA LIVE.

Broadcast live at the Seneca Niagara Hotel & Casino in Niagara Falls, NY, the Thirteenth Annual Native American Music Awards will host over one dozen featured performances and appearances by leading Native American recording artists. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster and the Seneca Niagara Casino Box Office. Tickets start at $25.00 and up.

The Awards show will by hosted by legendary ice hockey coach & motivational speaker, Ted Nolan. Featured Performers are; Bill Crouse & The Iroquois Smoke Dancers, Buddy Big Mountain, Dylan Jenet Collins, Edko & The Brotherhood (House Band), Gabriel Ayala, Janice Marie Johnson, Keith Secola, Marc Brown & The Blues Crew, Nokie Edwards, Pipestone and much more.

Special Guest Presenters are: Winona LaDuke, Joanne Shenandoah and attending special guest nominees include; Augustine Frank & Native Thunder, Becky Thomas, Beth Wray Webb, Black Thunder Singers, Bobby Bullet St Germaine, Buggin Malone, CC Murdock, Cody Blackbird, Delsey Thompson, Dorothy Aguilera-Bear, Duane Deemer/Windhorse, Everett Chavez, Frank Anakwad, Frank Montano, Frank Waln, Gary Small, George Blitch, Harvey Arden, Herman Edward, Hudson Dean, J. Teller, Jack Gladstone, James Maracle, Jamie Brace & October Soul, Jan Michael Looking Wolf, Jason Chamakese, Jimmy Lee Young, Joel Johnson, Joseph FireCrow, Josh Halverson, Kashnapi, Kelly Montijo Fink, Kyra Climbingbear, Leanne Goose, Louis Capcha Vilchez, Marco Frucht, Matt Uno Bryant, Mike Gouchie, Muckow & Rushingwind, Peter Sackeney, Randy Granger, Raphael Deas, Rhonda Head, Ron Warren, Rose Fernandez, Rose Yazzie Thomas, Scott Golana Cunningham, Spencer & Doc Batiste, Terry Lee Whetstone, Theresa Bearfox, Wendy Bradshaw, Windspirit Drum

The Awards program will commemorate the month of October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For more information please visit http://www.nbcam.org

The Native American Music Awards is the music industry’s largest and independent, organization consisting of national members dedicated to Native American music and are directly involved in the creation, marketing, recording, manufacturing and distribution of both contemporary and traditional music initiatives.

Visit the Native American Music Awards Website, www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com to cast your vote for the winners before October 7th! Join voters who are casting their votes from all parts of the world.

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Sandra Lopez, deported and thrown on the streets of Nogales, Mexico, and now in detention, describes the terror of being alone and scared, as young girls screamed at night in Nogales.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

TUCSON — Tucson community members urged the release from detention of Sandra Lopez, 20 years old, who has lived in Tucson since she was less than one month old. Sandra was deported and thrown onto the streets of Nogales, Mexico, in what turned into a nightmare.
“I heard the screams of the young girls at the hotel,” Sandra told a judge. “I knew I had no choice if I wanted to stay alive but run for my life, up the lanes of traffic back into the United States and plead for help.”
During a press conference today, Tucson community members and Sandra’s father urged President Obama to do the right thing and release Sandra from the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. Sandra, an honor student and student of the month in high school in Tucson, has been in detention for eight months.
After being deported to the streets of Nogales, everyone tried to take advantage of Sandra. Women on the streets urged her to join them, police officers tried to get her into their car. After five days on the streets of Nogales, alone and scared, she bolted, she ran down the busy lanes of traffic to the US. She wanted to be detained, she wanted to be safe.

Sandra’s father, Humberto Duran, described his daughter, deported and abandoned on the streets of Nogales, Mexico, for five days. She was left there with no place to go.
“She had never been to Mexico; she spent her entire life in the United States. She was just thrown out there and everyone tried to take advantage of her. It was a living hell, it would be a living hell for anyone out there,” Duran said.
“She was scared, had no money and no place to go, and everyone tried to take advantage of her.”
Now, with Sandra imprisoned in Eloy, Arizona, Duran said every parent should be able to feel what he feels now.
“My message to parents out there is that we have to support one another. Life is not always as we expect. Only parents know how difficult it is to be in a situation like this. I’d like to ask for the community’s help.”
Asked about the anxiety of having a daughter in prison, he said, “If anyone has a daughter or son out there, I would gladly get down on my knees and pray to help them out.”
More than 5,000 people have made phone calls and sent e-mails and faxes to ICE Director John Morton. So far, Morton, the Obama Administration and DHS have turned a cold shoulder to the public outcry on Sandra’s behalf.
After Sandra ran for safety back to the US border, Sandra told a judge what happened on the streets of Nogales, Mexico.
“When I got to Nogales, I was really sacred. Strange men began to ask me to come with them; I ran away from them, I thought they were going to kidnap me.”
She saw men bring younger girls to a hotel. “At night I could hear them scream.”
Older women tried to get her to become a sex worker. “I know they wanted me to be a sex worker for them, I said ‘No,’ over and over, but the men with them tried to grab me and I ran away.”
“I asked policemen for help, but they would not help me, they also tried to get me to go with them and I knew I would be raped, I ran away from the policemen, I was so scared and there was nobody there to help me or protect me.”
Sandra said she fears she will be kidnapped and help for ransom, or worse, if she is deported back to Mexico. “I fear I will be kidnapped and held for ransom.”
“I know it is very common for young, attractive women who are alone, to be sexually assaulted, to be held for ransom, to be forced to work as sex slaves.”
During today’s press conference in Tucson, community members urged the Department of Homeland Security and the Obama Administration to end Sandra’s detention and impending deportation and let her come home. Further, they urged an end to all DREAM ACT eligible residents.
Sandra’s attorney Margo Cowan said President Obama has not fulfilled his promise to the Latino community. So far, Cowan said, Obama has only responded to the pleas for Sandra’s release by saying, “We’ve taken this under consideration.”
Cowan said, “We’re calling on President Obama to keep his word. Obama said he is reaching out to the Latino community.”
On August 18, 2011, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would focus enforcement on high priority cases individuals considered “most dangerous.” This announcement followed a June 17, 2011, memo from Morton wherein the agency defined low priority cases as including person who have lived in the US since childhood.
“Sandra is an outstanding student and graduated with distinction from Amphitheater High School,” said John Fife, Pastor Emeritus of Southside Presbyterian Church, among those urging her release today. Fife pointed out that since she has lived here all her life, she is eligible to stay in the US under the Dream Act.
“Sandra is eager to attend college and pursue a career in public service. Sandra is dream eligible and should be provided the opportunity to stay and continue her fine contribution to her family and our community.”

Read more at No More Deaths, where volunteers also search the desert for migrants in distress, with humanitarian aid.
Take action, send an e-mail or fax:
http://www.nomoredeaths.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/NMDannounce/20110831213749/
Also see: Border Patrol ‘A Culture of Cruelty’
No More Deaths’ report, following thousands of interviews, documenting that children and adults are beaten by the US Border Patrol. Migrants were denied water, food and medicine:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/09/border-patrol-culture-of-cruelty.html

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Northern Paiute gatherer and craftsman Kwassuh, Wesley Dick.

These events are based onthe understanding and acknowledgment of two worlds.

1. The lifeways, the unique cultures, the sacred ceremonial, the loss of identity, customs, traditions and quality of lives the Native Americans all shared from past thousands of years to the present. The aboriginal peoples needs to live good lives depends on the freedoms our ancestors practiced in their daily lives. Respect and the love of our mothers is the same relationship we share with the Earth. The strength, wisdom and protection our fathers provided is related to the respect and honor we have for the Creator. This relationship will never end among all indigenous people worldwide.

2. The interference of these non-Native immigrants that forcibly claimed my people’s homes, food, and more. Including forcing their own religions upon my people and forcing them off their homelands; forcing their laws, rules, regulations, limitations, executing their punishments, penalties, threats, and worse of all the senseless murders that were committed by these people for their own benefit. Also, dislocating and imprisoning the Natives to other areas, the destruction of space; the destruction of the air we breathe, the destruction of the water we drink, the destruction upon our earth, the destruction of plants, the destruction of our animals, the production of toxic chemicals, the production of mass weapons, and the list goes on by these non-Native immigrants with absolute disregard for the good life the aboriginal people had lived for thousands of years are absolutely nothing to be proud of by a nation that claims to uphold “Life, Liberty and Justice for All”. This has been at the expense of the Native American people and now the destruction of the earth and its atmosphere.

Kwassuh’s craft made from tules. Photo Kwassuh.

A majority of Native people relate and possess inside themselves the same feeling of loss, direct threats, misinformation, lack of knowledge, and worse of all misguidance from our present tribal leaders who do not seem to have learned from the past Tribal leaders whose failures have heavily burdened our people today time after time. These are the same individuals who before election time, promised to uphold, respect, protect, and preserve our tribal concerns and matters.

It’s amazing how many of these individuals tend to profit on their own behalf and benefit for their own certain followers at the expense of the ones who are really in need of. Financial failures are the most obvious and well known among many tribal governments and seems to be a never ending issue. The loss of our lands is another failed example, but worse of all is the loss of our culture and the loss of our ancestors teachings by our own people except for books, old pictures, artifacts that are collected in museums or individual collections that most people see today. It’s become harder to gain the correct answers among our own people today because the most knowledgeable elders in our communities are passing away and the newer generations are influenced by other societies. I, Wesley Dick (Kwassuh) have always known of the importance of taking the time to learn from my own people, especially while participating, assisting my own tribal people through hunting, plant gathering, ceremonial and all culturally related events. Since the stories shared by my grandparents, family and friends and the killing of my first rabbit when I was 8 or 9 years old, this was the beginning stage of respecting a living being that I learned would provide nutrition and the spiritual understanding of the rabbit to help me throughout my life. From that time, I have excelled in my life-learning importance of all living plants and animals both physically and spiritually from the teachings of my own people and the direct connection of their lifecycle is respectfully honored in our ceremonies and the need to pass on these teachings is the most important. The result of today’s modern hunting methods don’t include the spirituality of these animals being killed. Sadly today’s Native hunters have excluded prayers and the respect of the animals, in exchange hunting is considered sport and the animal is game. The antlers are treasured but the hides and hoofs are thrown away regardless of their spiritual significance that are sacred only to our traditional people.

The efforts to continue what I have learned and the experiences I have been successful in from past to present, has been tremendously disrespected and these interferences have put a large delay in the progress and fulfillment of my obligations to my family and my people. A very heavy financial burden has also been placed on me and my family at the worst of these difficult times. The need to sell some of our personal belongings and get personal loans from the pawn shop in order to maintain the everyday cost of living, having to drive a many distance to and from the library in order to produce documents, traveling to get advice from legal persons, and having to get donations to assist us. Worst of all, is the need to defend myself to this United States Court that cites me because I was doing what I am supposed to be doing as a traditional Native person which is picking my peoples traditional plant in a ceremonial way and citing me for being where my people used to be which is a known burial, ceremonial and traditional plant gathering and hunting area. These customs are known by the Northern Paiute, Western Shoshone, Washoe and recognized by the United States of America.

A formal letter of request for financial assistance was read, given and received by my Tribal Council and was denied even though I explained in detail my full intentions to defend myself and stand up for our Native rights. This is just a few examples of the undue and unnecessary steps we have endured so far. I am thankful to my family and friends for their help in getting me this far. Having to take my family on an over 2,000 mile round trip to the State of Washington to get fair justice by a Tribal Court was especially financially difficult. The Tribal Court panel of judges consists of several indigenous Nations who are very knowledgeable in national and international laws. They recognized my obvious human rights that are being violated. With their assistance and respect, that they have shown me and my family, made it well worth the trip.

This first incident with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service not acknowledging or respecting my inherent rights or my aboriginal rights to practice the sacred methods of my peoples traditional plant gathering and use, outraged not only my tribal people among my reservation, but also included the non-Indians in my local community and surrounding cities and states; most of all, many indigenous people worldwide. These people have all expressed outrage of these nonsense claims and ignorance on behalf of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. In order for myself to be cited for $675.00 for picking my own traditional plant that the U.S. Wildlife Refuge burns thousands of these plants each year, they already spent thousands of dollars to try me in their court. Also, the majority of the tule bundle that I prayed for and picked on the Stillwater Reservation was the majority of the bundle that was confiscated on May 14, 2011 still seems to be ignored. The small amount of tules I observed and picked in the ditch was also acknowledged in the ceremonial way as always. Then, the citation for $175.00 for trespassing, which I was on my own aboriginal territory, to try to collect a $175.00 from me will be an additional thousands of dollars in their court proceedings, not to mention, the embarrassment they will learn is the result of their own ignorance because that’s another traditionally known area by my people, the visitors, hunters, officials, and other Natives. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe both states “Home For The Numa” and acknowledges the Northern Paiute people/Toi-Ticutta with their signature stamps/emblem located at the bottom of this sign.

There is absolutely no signs saying No Admittance, Restricted Area, Authorization Only, No Trespassing, Barriers, Fenced Area, Punishment and Fines signs where my truck was parked. The only sign visible to me were Welcome and Auto Tour Loop.
This has always been a known traditional ceremonial and burial area told to me by my grandmother and elders, where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife claims I trespassed/unauthorized area/travel off designated route that I’m being accused of.

There will be a new upcoming misguided direction of this same wildlife officer who cannot tell the difference between a red faced bear hide and an elk hide. Along with my own Tribal police officer who misidentified this hide also and assisted in confiscating my property which places me and my family in a huge financial loss because I needed my flatbed trailer and all its contents. These officer’s threats of felony charges didn’t intimidate me. I replied to them to go ahead and charge me because as a Native traditional practitioner, I have the right to possess any plant, mineral or animal that comes from the Earth especially when it pertains to our sacred culture. No charges were filed and the ridiculous claims of me being in possession of a red faced bear or any bear never existed. A week later, Tribal Police called me to come and pick up my elk and deer hides that the U.S. Wildlife took from our property. These officer’s claims of a head and claws seems to have disappeared.

To date, I never received any written incident reports from these officers or their departments. But I finally received the return of my hides and I await the return of my flatbed trailer by the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. Some of the results of my loss include: (1) To complete my hide tanning structure; that is now taken, (2) the wood stumps I have been saving that I planned on using for smoking, (3) the various wood chips I also used for smoking my hides, (4) there were a few tires I could have sold for $10.00 each, (5) the deer hides I intended on tanning for my5 year old daughters dress, (6) the loss of my elk hide I intended on producing hand drums from, (7) the water containers that the hides were contained in, (8) the two axle flatbed trailer that was taken; I paid $600.00 for it and purchased it for the intent of hauling large items and cords of wood on, (9) the hunting trips I have missed out on, (10) the plant picking trips I normally take with my family, (11) ceremonies I had planned on attending, (12) powwows me and my family annually attend, (13) part time jobs I’ve missed out on, from cutting wood, mending fences, and ground clearing, (14) the inability to promise dependability to a full time job (I have been an experienced drywall finisher for over 20 years). These matters with Fish and Wildlife by having to defend my inherent rights and now the illegal taking of my property, has put my family and I in a great financial burden, huge cultural delay and interference with my traditional activities my family and I normally do at this time. No others should have to go through this.

The United States District Court in Reno decision on July 21st Decision of the Government’s Oral Motion for Dismissal without prejudice of citation #2011055-N31, Taking of any animal or plant without authorization is granted. I need to define this court decision. It is very important to me to understand how this decision will affect myself and my people who plan on carrying out our plant gathering, hunting and religious matters for today and the future. Does this ruling mean we will have no further interference from these Wildlife Game Officials? Will this ruling assist our neighboring/related Tribes in similar situations? Will our inherent rights and reserved rights as Native Americans be respected from now on? Will our Native sovereignty issues with the United States of America finally be clear and present to these individuals who claim to represent the laws and acts the United States of America claims to be proud of upholding. Maybe these law enforcement officials will make no more mistakes and better understand matters concerning the real aboriginal peoples of this land so we can be able to provide, protect, preserve, maintain, and live the way our ancestors once normally lived and honor them in the right way they deserve and stand in our rightful place in the beautiful circle of life where we belong. This Reno District Court Judge ignored the Tribal Declaratory Judgment that was hand delivered and placed on the District Court Judges desk by his secretary before July 21st court and proceeded to continue with his own proceedings ignoring the Native American rights and laws that pertain to my case. This Declaratory Judgment by the Kuiu Kwaan Tribal Court was stamped and dated by the U.S. District Court on July 21, 2011.

I have been a teacher, demonstrator, practitioner, provider, mentor, a ceremonial assistant, plant gatherer, skilled hunter, and a valued asset to my community, but most of all I am a father to my children, a son to my mother and father, a brother to my sisters and brothers, an uncle to many nieces and nephews, a grandfather to my step-daughter’s children, a good friend to many, a spiritual person and someday an important elder of my tribe. All these people are counting on me to continue what I have been happy to provide and accomplish for many years. In these modern times, all nations of people are supposed to be more educated and aware of the past to better our next generations. Thanks to my single shot 22 MAG rifle I owned for at least 25 years, I once killed 3 jackrabbits in one shot, with one bullet. This rifle is only good if I have a bullet though. I could never accomplish a shot like that with a bow and arrow, even though I am content with one rabbit with one arrow. Our F-350 Duly truck and two axle flatbed trailer was expected to haul 3 to 4 cords of wood from the mountains to home. With no gas, and now minus my trailer, I will be lucky to get only a cord of wood or none at all.

These unnecessary interferences and absolute ridiculous distractions and delays hopefully will end immediately because I have much more to offer and much more to do and accomplish for my family and my people. I see myself as being charged by the United States of America for practicing what I know I am supposed to do as a traditional Native person, being charged for being where I am supposed to be as a traditional Native person, and being charged for being a Toi-Ticutta. The only one guilty is the United States Wildlife Officer and their representatives for interfering, interrupting and preventing me to do as my people are known for doing. These individuals are in total violation and need to be corrected immediately or this will be another case of history repeating itself and another case of indigenous human rights being violated and disrespected by the nation who claims “with liberty and justice for all”.

Thank you, Wesley Dick (Kwassuh)
Northern Paiute (Toi-Ticutta) and member of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

SPONSORED BY “FRIENDS OF BLOOD LANDS” AND VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL COALITIONS

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1, 2011
FROM 9 AM TO 4 PM
NORTH END OF BLOOD RESERVE

COME AND JOIN US FOR PRAYERS AND DRUMMING TO PROTECT THE EARTH, WATER, LAND, AIR, PLANTS AND ANIMALS OF THE BLOOD RESERVE
ALL DRUMMERS AND ELDERS WELCOME
DIRECTIONS:
TURN AT JUNCTION OF HIGHWAY 2 AND 509 WEST OF COALHURST ALBERTA, DRIVE FOR 14 KILOMETERS TOWARDS STANDOFF AND TURN WEST AT THE MATAKI FARMS/ SAWKEE FEED LOT TURN OFF
YOU WILL SEE A BIG BLUE AND WHITE TENT
OR
FROM STANDOFF TURN AT JUNCTION OF HIGHWAY 1 AND 509, DRIVE FOR APPROXIMATELY 20 TO 25 MINUTES AND YOU WILL SEE THE BIG BLUE AND WHITE TENT
BRING: CHAIR, WATER, TOBACCO, CLOTH OR RIBBONS FOR OFFERING
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CONTACT MIKE AT (403) 737 – 2194 OR chiefbird@hotmail.com

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

NO! to tarsands and the Keystone XL pipeline

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Photo Ben Powless, Mohawk

Photo Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless OTTAWA TARSANDS ACTION Sept. 26, 2011 Photos by Ben Powless, Mohawk

See all today’s heroes at the rally and arrested: Photos by Ben Powless:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarsandsaction/sets/72157627762196960/

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

TUCSON — A few weeks ago we told you about Sandra Lopez, a 20-year-old Tucsonan who needs our help. Despite being a DREAMer, Sandra has been detained at Eloy Detention Center for the past two months and DHS has refused to release her from ICE detention. Will you help Sandra by making a call demanding that she be released immediately?
Also, even if you have already used our e-action page to send a letter to John Morton, please visit it again to send a letter to both John Morton and Katrina Kane.
Please call now:
Call DHS head Janet Napolitano: 202-282-8495
Call ICE head John Morton: 202-732-3000
Call ICE field office director Katrina Kane: 602-766-7028
Sample Script: “Hi, I am calling to ask that Sandra F. Lopez (A# 200-704-493) be released from Eloy Detention Center, Arizona. Sandra is a DREAM Act–eligible student and she has been detained in Eloy Detention Center for too long. Sandra has lived in Tucson, Arizona, since she was a few days old. Please release her from Eloy Detention Center.”
THANK YOU.

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Tantoo Cardinal Photo by Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless

Photo Ben Powless

Photos by Ben Powless
UPDATE: Portraits of arrests:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/09/ottawa-tarsands-protest-portraits-of.html

Streaming by Ustream

Watch Live: Twin Cities Tar Sands Action
Today 10AM to 2PM CDT!
http://www.ienearth.org/ien-pipeline.html

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE OTTAWA TODAY
“We have hundreds of people who have signed up to risk arrest,” said Clayton Thomas-Muller, a campaigner with the Indigenous Environmental Network. “At a time when we need to be fundamentally reducing our emissions, at a time when we need to be generating investments in zero-carbon energy technology, we’re allowing Big Oil and this Harper majority government to lead us on a backward path, which is destroying Canada’s image internationally,” he said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/oil-sands-opponents-to-descend-on-parliament-hill/article2179710/
Embattled pipeline at centre of mass Ottawa protest
CTV News Canada
Protesters started collecting on Parliament Hill on Sunday, taking part in protest training sessions ahead of a planned mass confrontation with the federal government over its support for the oilsands and a proposed pipeline from Alberta to Texas.
Hundreds of environmentalists are expected to turn out for Monday’s mass rally, which organizers expect will become “the largest civil disobedience action in the history of Canada’s climate movement.” More:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110925/protesters-gather-for-pipeline-protest-110925/

KEYSTONE XL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT HEARINGS COMING TO YOUR AREA
Background
www.ienearth.org

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would consist of approximately 1,711 miles of new 36-inch-diameter pipeline, with approximately 327 miles of pipeline in Canada and 1,384 miles in the U.S. TransCanada filed an application for a Presidential Permit with the U.S. Department of State to build and operate the Keystone XL Project. The proposed Project would have the capacity to transport 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to delivery points in Oklahoma and southeastern Texas.

On August 26, 2011, the U.S. Department of State released a final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline saying the pipeline would have “no significant impact” on the environment. According to the U.S. administration, they are saying President Obama now has three months to determine whether the controversial project is in the national interest of America.

Our concerns with this FEIS are similar to the concerns of a previous pipeline project called Keystone (with no “XL” attached to it, sometimes called Keystone 1) and its final EIS that was done in 2008. The basic concern was the EIS was incomplete, and didn’t thoroughly address all the issues. Keystone XL fails to take seriously the potential damage to American Indian Tribes and their Tribal members in the States of Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. These damages could threaten, among other things, water aquifers, water ways, cultural sites, agricultural lands, animal life, public drinking water sources and other resources vital to the Tribal peoples of the region in which the pipeline is proposed to be constructed. Lack of adequate consultation has been a consistent concern expressed by Tribal members of all the affected Tribal Nations who to this day have not been thoroughly informed of the potential effects of this pipeline.

With over 12 spills caused by the Keystone 1 pipeline, which runs through eastern North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kansas with links to Missouri and Illinois, it is critical that the State Department take the potential environmental and cultural resource impacts seriously. The FEIS is not even requiring TransCanada, the company that hopes to build Keystone XL, to submit an emergency response plan before final approval. In spite of the reported spills on Keystone I, the XL EIS predicts 1.78 to 2.51 spills, of any size, per year.

Tribal Nations deserve and have a right to be thoroughly informed and have a truthful account of the damage Keystone XL can cause. The toxic corrosive crude oil that would flow through the Keystone XL pipeline comes from the tar sands in northern Alberta, Canada. The tar sands are located in the homelands of the Cree, Dene and Métis communities. The pipeline will cross hundreds of miles of indigenous territory, including Lakota territory, and violate treaty rights under the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868 as well as human rights under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

U.S executive approval is needed before the pipeline can be laid in place. The State Department has announced the schedule for a series of public input meetings in States along the route of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Written comments will be accepted by the State Department until October 9th, 2011.

Public Hearings on Keystone XL Pipeline

Monday, September 26, 2011

Texas:
Bob Bowers Civic Center
3401 Cultural Center Dr., Port Arthur, 4:30 – 10 p.m.
Kansas:
Kansas Expo Center
1 Expocenter Dr., Topeka, noon – 3:30 p.m., 4– 8 p.m.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Montana:
Dawson Community College
Toepke Center Auditorium, 300 Community Dr., Glendive, 4:30 – 10 p.m.
Nebraska:
Pershing Center
226 Centennial Mall, South Lincoln, noon – 3:30 p.m., 4. – 8:00 p.m .

Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Texas:
University of Texas Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium,
2313 Red River St., Austin, noon – 3:30 p.m., 4 – 8 p.m.

Thursday, September 29, 2011
South Dakota:
Best Western Ramkota,
920 West Sioux Ave., Pierre, noon – 3:30 p.m., 4 – 8 p.m.
Nebraska:
West Holt High School, 100 N. Main St. Atkinson, 4:30 – 10 p.m.

Friday, September 30, 2011
Oklahoma:
Reed Center Exhibition Hall,
5800 Will Rogers Rd., Midwest City., noon – 3:30 p.m., 4 – 8 p.m.

Friday, October 7, 2011
Washington, D.C.: To be announced via website and public notice.

Censored news reporter Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com