The Standing Rock movement is bigger than one tribe and one pipeline. It’s about respecting Indigenous Nations and their right to protect their homelands, environment and future generations. And it’s about rising up to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
The lessons we’ve learned from Standing Rock and the inspiration it gave to our movements is already evident. Ordinary people are fighting to protect their communities from the fossil fuel industry every day.
From the Trans-Pecos Pipeline in Texas, to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in the Gulf, to Keystone XL and beyond, there are numerous places where people continue to rise up against the fossil fuel industry and demand that the land, water, and climate be protected.
We spoke with frontline leaders from Standing Rock and regional organizers from around the country to hear reflections on #NoDAPL and learn about all the communities who are taking inspiration from Standing Rock and putting up massive resistance to pipelines and other fossil fuel projects.
“The historical impact of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access pipeline will be felt for generations. We cannot ignore the weight of this moment on the timeline of history and we have to understand what happened — good and bad — to build this movement stronger, to build the greater fight for social justice and environmental justice.”
“The fight is still ongoing. The construction of the pipeline might be complete but there are still folks who are out there.”
“We’re in this climate now of a Donald Trump administration… where we have to look at other ways to protect our communities and our homelands for future generations beyond just the normal methods of governance and regulation. Dakota Access showed we have to use every possible method.”
“There’s a lot of great work happening on a community level including passing local resolutions against the pipeline, and pressuring the governors to oppose it and to stop it through the regulatory system in each state.”
“We have close to 30 resolutions each in New York and New Jersey to stop these pipelines from being built. I really believe this is a fight we are going to win.”
“The timeline on the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines has been pushed back substantially due to grassroots energy rising up against them mainly from frontline groups.”
“We’re seeing a lot of the political scene change because of all the grassroots energy.”
“We need people in all different spaces of this movement to stand up and let your voice be heard. There is a space for you in this movement. We want you and we definitely need you, your voice, and your heart.”
“Standing Rock showed us that we have so much power that we strike fear within the people and groups that oppose us. Let them be afraid, they should be.”
“When we took on KXL 8 years ago, pipeline fighting wasn’t even a real thing. There were people fighting in their local communities but a lot of us felt isolated. Connecting all of our fights is something that we need to do better — because pipeline companies use the same tactics to divide us.”
“We believe that the way we’re going to stop Keystone XL (for the third time) is through water permits, climate tests, and stopping eminent domain.”
“As a grassroots community, we wanted to find a comprehensive way to stop all of these projects in one and stop the growth of the fossil fuel industry.
“We passed a set of policies in the city of Portland to ban new fossil fuel infrastructure such that existing facilities can’t grow and new large facilities can’t be built.”
Now is the time to join local and regional campaigns near you to fight pipelines and keep fossil fuels in the ground. Click here to join the Pledge of Resistance if you oppose all new fossil fuel infrastructure — then join us for what comes next.
To all of those who were spurred to action because of this fight, we need you now more than ever.