Kansas City Council urged to oppose Dakota Access Pipeline affecting Missouri River

Environmentalists and advocates for Native American tribes urged a Kansas City Council committee on Wednesday to oppose the planned Dakota Access Pipeline that affects the Missouri River.

“This project is truly a monstrosity,” Kansas City attorney Robin Martinez told the City Council’s Public Safety and Neighborhoods Committee. Martinez is one of the attorneys working with North Dakota tribes that are fighting the proposed pipeline, which would carry a half million barrels per day of crude oil from the Bakken shale oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois, affecting the Missouri River watershed and delicate landscapes and Native American cultural resources.

The committee was asked to endorse a resolution similar to one adopted by St. Louis, St. Paul, Minn., and Cleveland elected leaders, in opposition to the pipeline and in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council. Supporters said the pipeline could adversely affect Missouri River drinking water all along and downstream from the proposed route, through North and South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. The Missouri River is the drinking water source for Kansas City and many other cities in Missouri.

Kansas City Environmental Management Commission Chair Carol Adams told the council committee that her group sees the pipeline as a threat to the Missouri River watershed. Kansas City Chief Environmental Officer Dennis Murphey cited oil spills in recent years in the Yellowstone and Kalamazoo rivers as indicative of the risks.

The committee postponed a vote on the resolution at least until next week, because resolution sponsor Katheryn Shields was absent and no one from the Kansas City Water Services Department was available to speak about the pipeline’s potential impact on Kansas City.

Martinez told the council committee that this is both an environmental and a social justice issue. He said the project initially was designed to be built north of Bismarck, a largely white city in North Dakota, but opposition there shifted the project downstream to south of Bismarck, where he said it adversely affects economically disadvantaged Native American tribes. The project is now being challenged in the courts.

Members of a Kansas City Facebook group that stands in solidarity with the Standing Rock turned out for the committee hearing, as did Gaylene Crouser, executive director of the Kansas City Indian Center. She tearfully urged City Council support for the tribes and their homes. A member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, she said she has family members who would be directly affected by this project and its potentially harmful impact on their drinking water supply.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Kansas City Council urged to oppose Dakota Access Pipeline affecting Missouri River."