I submitted the following post about Standing Rock and the Hawaiian Superferry to an online newsblog last week. The following day, the Army Corps of Engineers announced that they would not be granting the easement that would allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to tunnel underneath Lake Oahe/the Missouri River. It was a huge win for the water protectors. However, the fight is not over. The water protectors remain at the camp for fear that DAPL will take the "better to ask forgiveness than permission" approach and continue construction despite the denied easement. The Army Corps of Engineers will be conducting an Environmental Impact Statement regarding the pipe's construction, and looking for alternative routes. The EIS will include public input, which means the tribes will have a say (finally) but this is a pause, not a full stop. The pipeline could still go forward through the same location, and will very likely go forward somewhere.
In the post below, I tell the story of the Hawaiian Superferry protests, which have been on my mind a lot lately. Many of the issues we have seen at Standing Rock are eerily similar to the events of the Superferry protests. As it happens, the easement denial and implementation of the EIS are more in a series of events echoing the 2007 protests. My timing may have been off for the news cycle, but I still want to share this post because as far as I am concerned, it is still highly relevant.
When Does This Ever Work?
Standing Rock and the Hawaiian Superferry
It can seem hopeless. The Standing Rock and Lakota Sioux
have run through every legal, governmental, corporate, and media process open
to them to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Treaties have been broken
and the bones of ancestors have been unearthed, all for a pipeline that will
put Reservation water at risk for contamination. With no other recourse left,
the water protectors have put their bodies in the way of the pipeline.
It seems impossible that this could work. So let me tell you
a story.
In August, 2007, the small, rural island of Kauai in Hawai‘i
made national news when a massive protest erupted in a classic battle of people versus
corporate-driven-state interests. The Hawaiian Superferry launched two massive
catamarans from the urban island of Oʻahu to two neighbor islands, Kauai and
Maui. They had spent years trying to stop it, but nothing worked. In Kauai,
residents decided they had no option left but to put their bodies in the way of
the ferry.
On August 26th, when the ferry arrived at
Nawiliwili Harbor, dozens of people jumped into the water and blocked the dock
on surfboards, canoes, and kayaks. When the way was eventually cleared for the
ferry to dock, hundreds more gathered at the docks to block cars from
unloading, again with nothing more than their bodies.
I remember watching the news from urban Oʻahu and hearing
reports from corporate and state representatives that these backwards
protesters were blocking progress for no reason. But I’ve been a protester
before. I know you don’t jump into the ocean to spend hours physically blocking
a nearly 400ft long vessel for no reason. So I went to Kauai, and I asked why.
The Superferry and the state were operating illegally. They
were required to conduct an environmental impact survey (EIS) before conducting
massive harbor renovations on Maui and Kauai to support the ferry, but they didn’t do it.
When a lawsuit threatened to force them comply with the law, the state attempted
to change it in an emergency session – which was an unconstitutional move.
These under-handed actions raised more suspicion and more scrutiny. More
concerns were raised, and all of them ignored.
The cars ferried over could easily bring mites, bugs, and
seeds in tire treads and undercarriages, transmitting invasive species from
island to island and undermining conservation efforts. The high-speed ferry
endangered the whale sanctuary surrounding the island. And protesters were
concerned about their way of life. The Superferry promised to bring development
and urbanization, which Kauaians did not want. It could also bring urban crime
across islands; people could ferry from Oʻahu, break into homes or steal natural resources, and bring their loaded cars right back to Oʻahu (which happened).
Kauai residents had spent years saying these things, trying to hold the state and the
corporation accountable for the impacts they would suffer. They had attended
town hall meetings, demanded an EIS be conducted, called on their legislators
for support (who were overruled by the majority from Oʻahu), written letters to
the editor (to their own island news outlets), and basically exercised every
legal, governmental, corporate, and media process open to them to block the
ferry from launching without significant environmental and cultural
considerations being address.
All of this fell on deaf ears. And so they put their bodies
in the way.
Just like the water protectors at Standing Rock, the Superferry protesters were falsely presented as
being violent by the state and corporate interests and by the media, while
instead they were met by a grossly
excessive police and military response. The protesters held their ground, so to
speak, in the water and at the dock. Despite the escalation of state forces,
they were unable to subdue the protests. The ferry was unable to get through to
dock a second time, and was forced to turn around and return to Oʻahu.
The protesters stayed. And they won.
After two days of resistance, the Superferry halted service
to Kauai indefinitely. Simultaneously, an ongoing court battle on the island of
Maui compelled the Superferry to suspend service while an EIS was conducted.
After years of court battles, the Superferry was permanently quashed.
Let me be clear. Service to Kauai was suspended and never
reinstated due to the peaceful but persistent resistance of physical protests
blocking the ferry from docking in August, 2007. Meanwhile, legal battles
temporarily halted service to Maui, but it began again in December and continue
on until March, 2009, when the court finally ruled against the state and
corporate actions. It was the long-term legal battle that ultimately defeated the
Superferry in Hawai‘i. The physical stance of the protesters in Kauai stopped
service to that one location.
Winning at Standing
Rock, Winning against DAPL.
The Dakota Access Pipeline was originally slated to be
placed upriver of Bismarck. This was blocked due to the threat of water
contamination at that location, but
the pipeline, its contamination threat to water and ecosystem, and its contribution
to fossil fuel-driven climate change, were not defeated. DAPL remains. The
fight remains.
Our resistance to DAPL must be at multiple fronts:
- The water protectors at Standing Rock are providing our country an essential service by placing their bodies peacefully and persistently in the way of construction. If you can join them, join them. If you can’t, support them so they can maintain their work on our behalf.
- It is simultaneously essential that we make our voices heard that this pipeline is not in our best interests. Sign the petition urging the federal government to halt pipeline construction.
- Contact your elected officials, tell them what you (their constituents) believe so they can best represent you. Tell them about your support for the water protectors, your support for a clean environment, your support for efforts to move away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy. Ask them to take the same stance. Contact them repeatedly. Be heard.
- Support the lawsuits against DAPL and the legal defense funds supporting the water protectors.
- Write letters to every media outlet that is poorly covering this fight and demand they do better.
And when all else fails and your voice is not being heard, put your body in the way. Make a stand.
