Lesson

Standing Rock

In June 2014, the Dakota Access Pipeline project—an underground pipeline that would transport crude oil from fields in North Dakota to a terminal near Patoka, Illinois—was announced to the public. Construction of the pipeline, which would run close to important cultural and burial sites on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, prompted a series of protests starting in April 2016 led by grassroots Native Americans. Politicians, environmental groups, and civil rights groups joined in opposition to the pipeline, citing concerns over the greenhouse gas emissions and the risk that a spill would pose to state and Tribal drinking water—namely to water from the Missouri River, which serves as the source for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe reservation. Protests ended in February 2017 when remaining protesters were evicted by National Guard and law enforcement officers; construction on the pipeline concluded in April 2017. 

This lesson plan, which features testimonies from environmental advocate Catherine Flowers and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire, relates the Dakota Access Pipeline project and subsequent protests to UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, which concerns the human right to sanitation and access to clean water, as well as articles 3 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

About the Defenders:

Catherine Coleman Flowers

Catherine Coleman Flowers is an environmental advocate and founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, which works to eliminate environmental disparities that limit access to clean water, air and sanitation in rural and marginalized communities. The 2017 Women Who Shape the State honoree has also served as the rural development manager at the Race and Poverty Initiative of the Equal Justice Initiative since 2008.

Janet Alkire

Janet Alkire serves as the Tribal Council Chairwoman for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Great Plains Area Representative for the National Indian Health Board (NIHB). Alkire previously worked in the Pentagon during her tenure in the Air Force; served as Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s Legislative Liaison; worked as a claims coordinator for the Keepseagle Class Action Lawsuit; and worked as a legislative liaison for the MHA Nation and as a Tribal Lobbyist during Senate and House sessions. Janet was the first woman to be elected by the people as Chairwoman for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in 2021.