I watched the vote on the XL pipeline yesterday on C-Span. After the final tally of 41-59 was announced signaling the failure of the "Protect Mary Landrieu Act" to break the 60 vote threshold. The audible singing from protesters in the gallery could be heard and warmed my heart. That traditional tribal tune came from Native American protesters that had gathered to protest the dire danger of this project on their lands and their people. As you can see from the above clip, Elizabeth Warren summoned the Sargent at Arms to restore order. Five of the protesters were removed from the gallery and had their hands cuffed with plastic zip-ties.
Red Power Media reports.
US Capitol Police officers dragged out five protesters, including Greg Grey Cloud of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe as he bellowed a tribal song.
Grey Cloud, who wore a headdress, continued singing as he was knocked to the floor and pulled to the wall of the hallway.
Protesters were handcuffed with plastic zip-ties while standing shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the wall. They were then paraded down a corridor and one of the protesters began singing again.
The group was arrested for “disrupting Congress.”
In response to the Nov. 14 House vote to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline, Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Cyril Scott announced that the tribe recognized the action as an act of war.
Pic: Protesters are taken away from the Senate chamber after chanting from the gallery following the Keystone vote. By Frank Thorp V/Twitter
EcoWatch expands on the story:
The Rosebud Sioux tribe had already declared the House approval of the pipeline last Friday an “act of war” and said that it would close its tribal borders to pipeline construction.
“The House has now signed our death warrants and the death warrants of our children and grandchildren,” Rosebud Sioux president Cyril L. Scott told the Lakota Voice. “The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will not allow this pipeline through our lands. We are outraged at the lack of intergovernmental co-operation. We are a sovereign nation and we are not being treated as such. Authorizing Keystone XL is an act of war against our people.”
The tribe is concerned about the potential for the pipeline to pollute their land which sits on top of the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest aquifers and a major source of agricultural and drinking water for Great Plains. They assert that a pipeline break and spill polluting the aquifer is virtually inevitable.
“The Lakota people have always been stewards of this land,” said Scott. “We feel it is imperative that we provide safe and responsible alternative energy resources not only to Tribal members but to non-Tribal members as well. We need to stop focusing and investing in risky fossil fuel projects like TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. We need to start remembering that the Earth is our mother and stop polluting her and start taking steps to preserve the land, water and our grandchildren’s future.”
The proposed pipeline route crosses Great Sioux Nation Treaty lands and within the current boundaries of the Rosebud and Cheyenne River Sioux reservations, both in South Dakota.