The amount of racism and exploitation against Native People and their land is beyond injustice . It is nothing short of genocide . Just the fact that some fucking asshole politician thinks it's still okay to dump hazardous waste on Reserve land is reason enough to tear all of this shit down for good.
Fascists in D.C. and Oklahoma Move to Poison and Pollute Native American Lands
In July, a Supreme Court ruling called McGirt v. Oklahoma determined that territories of five Native American tribes in Oklahoma remain as established by earlier treaties, and that Native American people accused of crimes within the boundaries of those reservations can’t be prosecuted by state or local authorities. The ruling was widely mischaracterized. For example, a USA Today article had the headline “Supreme Court Says Eastern Oklahoma Remains Native American Territory.” In fact, the Native peoples in Oklahoma (and the rest of the U.S.) do not have sovereignty (full political and economic control) over their territories.
A couple of weeks after the ruling, J. Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma’s Christian fascist governor, sent a letter to the head of the “Environmental Protection Agency” (more accurately, the Ecocidal Pollution Agency, or EPA), Andrew Wheeler. Stitt requested that Oklahoma have explicit authority to administer virtually all EPA programs within the state’s extensive Indian reservations.
Among the specific programs for which Stitt requested state oversight and regulation:
• “Underground Injection Control,” which is the EPA’s fracking permission system. Fracking is a highly destructive form of removing oil and gas from shale rock; it is a major contributor to climate change and often leaves behind contaminated water and land.
• Hazardous waste dumping on tribal lands—this includes chemicals like mercury, formaldehyde, lead, asbestos, pesticide chemicals, PCBs, and hundreds of others.
• Mega-farms and industrial-size livestock operations that produce enormous amounts of waste.
On October 1, Wheeler responded in a letter that gave a green light to Oklahoma’s full-bore ravaging of the Indian territories. Its opening paragraph ends, “EPA hereby approves Oklahoma’s request.” As an article on the Young Turks website said, “The EPA has now granted the State of Oklahoma the same authority it had before McGirt on environmental issues....”
Casey Camp-Horinek, Environmental Ambassador and Elder and Hereditary Drumkeeper of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, made the following bitterly poignant statement about this development: “After over 500 years of oppression, lies, genocide, ecocide, and broken treaties, we should have expected the EPA ruling in favor of racist Governor Stitt of Oklahoma, yet it still stings. Under the Trump administration, destroying all environmental protection has been ramped up to give the fossil fuel industry life support as it takes its last dying breath. Who suffers the results? Everyone and everything! Who benefits? Trump and his cronies, climate change deniers like Governor Stitt, Senators Inhofe and Lankford, who are financially supported by big oil and gas. I am convinced that we must fight back against this underhanded ruling. In the courts, on the frontlines and in the international courts, LIFE itself is at stake.”
Centuries of oppression of Native Americans and wanton destruction of the environment have intensified horribly during the years of Trump/Pence rule, and they will bring these nightmares to entirely new depths if they succeed in fully consolidating their fascist regime.
Sources:
EPA grants Stitt request for state oversight on tribal lands, Washington Post, October 5, 2020.
EPA Grants Oklahoma Control Over Tribal Lands, TYT.com, October 5, 2020.
Approval of Oklahoma Request, U.S. EPA, October 1, 2020.
Indigenous Leaders Furious After EPA Grants Oklahoma Control Over Sovereign Tribal Lands, Eco Watch, October 6, 2020.
Supreme Court Rules That About Half Of Oklahoma Is Native American Land, NPR, July 9, 2020.
Native Americans won an unusual legal victory at the Supreme Court. Congress could undo it, Washington Post, July 29, 2020.
The Trump Administration Is Reversing 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List, New York Times, July 15, 2020.
