SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii Democrat who herself served two tours of duty in the Middle East and continues to serve as an active soldier of the Army National Guard, will join thousands of other veterans next week on a visit to support Native Americans who are seeking to block construction of an oil pipeline near North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
“If my participation in this protest helps send one message, it is this: We must protect our fragile water resources for current and future generations,” Gabbard said about the trip.
She will be part of a December 4-7 “Veterans Stand With Standing Rock” mobilization that proposes to bring military veterans from across the country to North Dakota at the same time that state officials are stepping up efforts to remove pipeline foes from the camp they have organized as part of their Water Protectors movement.
More than 2,000 other veterans have already committed to attending the event, and support the foes of the pipeline from what organizers of the mobilization describe as “assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force.” Authorities have combatted the protestors with mass arrests, rubber bullets, pepper spray and the use of water cannons. They have also arrested journalists and documentary filmmakers seeking to report from the scene.
Gabbard’s office says she accepted an invitation from organizers to join the veterans who are standing at Standing Rock.
She hopes her presence will draw attention to threats to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s water supply, as well as the water supply of people living in communities downstream from where the pipeline would cross underneath the Missouri River.
“I’m participating in the Dakota Access Pipeline protest because of the threat this project poses to water resources in four states serving millions of people,” the congresswoman said. “Whether it’s the threat to essential water sources in this region, the lead contamination in Flint, Michigan, or the threat posed to a major Hawaii aquifer by the Red Hill fuel leak, each example underscores the vital importance of protecting our water resources.”
Gabbard is calling on President Obama to “do the right thing and stop this pipeline project before water resources for millions are forever ruined.”
She’s no stranger to being the odd one out in group topics — earlier this year, Gabbard broke from the majority of her party in support of Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who himself has been a vocal opponent of the pipeline. Sanders said the president should “Tell the Army Corps of Engineers that we know—we don’t need any more studies to know—that in the midst of a great crisis, a global crisis with regard to climate change, every environmental study will tell you: Do not build this pipeline. And if there are other approaches, such as declaring Standing Rock a federal monument, let’s do that.”
