[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14591-14592]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  DISPUTE AT STANDING ROCK RESERVATION

  Mr. REID. Madam President, this month is Native American Heritage 
Month. During this month, we honor the contributions of American 
Indians and also, of course, Alaskan Natives and Hawaiians. We don't 
have to look very far to see how Native Americans continue fighting for 
their heritage. They really must fight for their heritage.
  If you pick up a newspaper or turn to the news on any channel you 
want, you will see what is happening at the Standing Rock Reservation 
in North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is opposing the 
construction of a portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline that passes 
near their reservation where it crosses the Missouri River.
  They are concerned that the construction of the pipeline could not 
only destroy ancestral burial grounds but could also contaminate the 
water supply for the tribe, as well as for millions of others who 
depend on water from the Missouri River.
  The Standing Rock Sioux are fighting for their land, the right to 
clean water, clean air, and their history. They are not alone. The 
Standing Rock Sioux have been joined by thousands of others, including 
members of hundreds of tribes throughout the United States. Last month, 
while I was in Nevada, members of the 27 Native American tribes we have 
in Nevada made it clear to me that they stand in solidarity with the 
Standing Rock Sioux.
  But I do too. Here is why. Here is why I join with the Standing Rock 
Sioux in calling for an alternative route for the pipeline's 
construction. It is past time that this situation be resolved 
peacefully. It has lingered for months, and the debate has descended 
into violence. Private security guards have unleashed attack dogs on 
Indians, resulting in men, women, and children being bitten and some 
very severely. Police have used rubber bullets, tear gas, and 
compression grenades. Some 300 people have been treated for injuries as 
a result of this violence against the protesters.
  The most severe injury took place a week ago, when one young woman 
had parts of her arm and hand blown off. The violence at Standing Rock 
must end. I am confident that President Obama's administration is 
taking the necessary steps to address the situation. They have done 
well so far. What is happening at Standing Rock is a movement that has 
captured the attention of the entire country.
  But we should understand the context of what is taking place. We 
should be mindful that the history of this region is fraught with 
disputes--very few of which, if any, have been resolved in the favor of 
the Indians. This region is fraught, I repeat, with disputes between 
Native Americans and the U.S. Government--disputes that originated more 
than a century ago but that, in the minds of the Indians, are still 
very much alive.
  Last week, Kevin Gover, the Director of the Smithsonian's National 
Museum of the American Indian, which is a wonderful place, put the 
clash at Standing Rock in historic perspective. Here is what he said:

       Take Standing Rock, for example . . . if you know what the 
     history of the Sioux Nation is, you know that the treaties 
     were made with the Sioux Nation concerning these lands that 
     no longer belong to the Sioux Nation. And you know that the 
     development of the Missouri River for the past century has 
     always, always involved taking of Indian land. They were 
     building dams up and down the Missouri, and every Indian 
     reservation along the way was flooded. Some of the best land 
     was flooded, which only deepened their poverty and made it 
     that much harder to climb out [of poverty, which they 
     haven't]. So we should know that kind of history.

  I agree. This is the history to which he is referring--or at least a 
part of it. In the 1890s, Congress pushed the Sioux to reservations, 
took them off their ancestral lands, and jammed them into reservations.
  Speaking from the knowledge I have, what they did to the Panamint and 
Shoshone in Nevada is unbelievable. They put them in the worst places 
you could find. That is what they did to the Sioux. In the 1890s, they 
pushed the Sioux into reservations. Then, two decades later, in 
violation of all of the treaties they had, they built dams on the 
Missouri River that shrunk the size of the reservations even more.
  Then, in the 1940s, the United States built yet another dam, putting 
the Sioux's most fertile land underwater. I don't intend to have all of 
the answers. But I do know from experience that progress is possible 
when cooperation and respect form the foundation of fairness, 
especially on issues related to tribal rights and environmental 
concerns.
  I take one example that I know a lot about, and that is what happened 
in Nevada with a really large powerplant--coal-fired--called the Reid 
Gardner coal-fired plant. It was one of the dirtiest powerplants in the 
entire country. This coal plant was located less than a football field 
from the tribal reservation.
  Every day it dumped thousands of tons of toxins in the air, such as 
arsenic, mercury, and lead. Tribal members got sick. Of course, they 
did. Some 300 people on the reservation were poisoned daily by the 
pollution. But working with the Moapa Paiutes, I called for closure of 
the plant. People thought: Why are you doing this? It was the right 
thing to do. It was the

[[Page 14592]]

right thing to do for the environment, but, more importantly, it was 
the fair and just thing to do for the Moapa Band of Paiutes.
  Since that time, when we started this initial effort, three of Reid 
Gardner's four generating units have been shut down--closed. The whole 
coal facility will be out of business within the next 90 days. That is 
pretty good. It is gone. Why? Because we had government. Local and 
State governments, Indian government, and the power company all worked 
together to address this issue.
  It could not have been done without all three of them working 
together. I have said this publicly. I have had a lot of disputes with 
the monopoly power company in Nevada, but on this issue I have 
complimented them because they did the right thing. With the Paiute 
tribe, instead of having this toxic dump in the form of a coal-fired 
generating plant right next to them that they breathe every day, they 
now have a huge solar farm.
  It has created lots of construction jobs. That electricity is now 
being sent to the city of Los Angeles. It has been good for everybody--
good for the air of Nevada, good for the Indians with work. It has 
helped the environment. The power company has made other arrangements 
for their power. They did it fairly easily.
  The simple truth is, based on this whole experience I had, that you 
need to work together, whether it is the Moapa Paiutes or the Standing 
Rock Sioux. They are exposed to more pollution than most Americans. 
That is the way it is.
  We don't talk a lot about the people who are severely impacted by a 
century of practically limitless pollution--Indians. This is not an 
urban or rural phenomenon. It is everywhere, and it is dangerous. 
Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that the difference in 
exposure to nitrogen dioxide alone is equal to roughly 7,000 deaths a 
year from heart disease.
  From South Dakota to Nevada, Native Americans are on the frontlines 
of these environmental and public health catastrophes. To make matters 
worse, heavy-polluting industries are fighting to return to the days of 
limitless pollution under the next administration. Can the people of 
America expect our newly elected President to intervene on their behalf 
against the big polluters? Can the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe depend on 
the man who is financially invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline? 
Probably not.
  This is about more than President-Elect Trump or fossil fuel profits. 
What is happening at Standing Rock is about respect for people: Where 
they build their homes, where they raise their families. The violence 
and aggression against the Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota is a 
tragic example of the failure to respect people, of longstanding 
grievances, for how they and their natural resources have been treated.
  No one can see this more than the Indians. The Standing Rock Sioux 
protest at the Dakota Access Pipeline has everything to do with the 
history of broken promises and the institutionalized disregard for the 
rights of their own land as well as the trust relationship between 
Indian tribes and the Federal Government of the United States. While 
most stakeholders want a speedy end to this situation, we must 
understand that overreaction to protesters, violence, and disregard for 
our history undermines the likelihood of a mutually acceptable solution 
and rubs salt in already festering wounds.
  Profits should not be a determining factor of how this matter is 
resolved. The Obama administration has recognized that this history 
means the Dakota Access Pipeline is much more complicated than a water-
crossing permit. They are doing the right thing by working with tribes 
to develop a better consultation process. I appreciate very much what 
the Obama administration has done. They recognize that history means 
that the pipeline is more complicated than simply a water crossing.
  I appreciate that the President is showing the Standing Rock Sioux 
the respect to which they are entitled. President Obama has less than 2 
months left in his term, and it is becoming clear that the dispute at 
Standing Rock likely will not be resolved before he leaves office.
  I encourage the new administration and the Army Corps of Engineers to 
continue finding an alternate route. There is one out there. This 
should not be that hard. There is no reason this situation cannot be 
remedied in a manner that is fair to all.
  Three hundred people have already been injured. Grenades. Dogs being 
sicced on these Indians. Water being sprayed on them in freezing 
temperatures--below-freezing temperatures.
  Our Native-American tribes are looking to the Federal Government for 
help. For once, let's get them some help rather than just continue 
taking from them. They want to believe that after centuries of wrongs, 
the United States will finally get it right. Indians want to believe 
that after so long of being treated with no respect, the United States 
will help and not hurt.
  Relocating the pipeline to a more suitable area away from the 
Standing Rock Indian Reservation would be an easy and historic step in 
the right direction. For the sake of our country, I hope that happens.
  Madam President, I see no one on the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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