Immediately before the rally and march to protest the Keyston XL pipeline yesterday in Lincoln, Nebraska the organizers held a press conference and then individual press availabilities. Due to our close proximity, we were able to catch one of those short interviews:
Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017.
Reporter: And why do you think a march like this, how much do you think this is going to help the process of the public hearings? How is the public support that is here today going to help?
Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network: I think it’s important for the Public Service Commission to recognize that they do have a large opposition to Keystone XL [pipeline]. And by actually seeing it manifested here is a good way to show to the government of Nebraska that this pipeline is unwanted.
Reporter: And you mentioned that Keystone, or Trans Canada I should say, picks out spots with indigenous people.
Joye Braun: Yes.
Reporter: What facts do you have to support that?
Joye Braun: Well, I come from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. That’s my home. And originally Keystone XL wanted to go straight through my reservation. Another point is, with Dakota Access pipeline, they originally wanted to go just north of Bismarck. They moved it because of the outcry of the non-native population in Bismarck, to just north of Standing Rock. Those are two very recent ways of showing that.
Reporter: Then I’m guessing you had, so you were a protester with the Dakota Access pipeline?
Joye Braun: I am a protector, not a protester. [crosstalk] I’m a protector.
Reporter: Protector, fair enough. And how are these two situations similar and how are they different?
Joye Braun: They’re similar because we’re going up against big oil. Trans Canada or Energy Transfer Partners, which was Dakota Access, is a [inaudible] with Keystone XL. Both of them don’t like safety issues brought up. Both of them don’t like to do environmental impact statements. Both of them do not look at the indigenous populations or other populations that don’t necessarily have access to big lawyers, farmers and ranchers. They don’t have access to big lawyers. So they target these areas to, to, to push their pipeline through. Pipelines leak. We know that. Dakota Access has already leaked twice. And…
Reporter: And, so, you say this does happen. You think it’s just going to leak and ruin a lot of your land as well?
Joye Braun: It will leak a lot of our land. It’s going to leak a lot of Nebraska land as well. Nebraska has the Ogallala Aquifer underneath it. Without that aquifer underneath it the breadbasket of America is not, not going, to be no longer. I mean, what are people going to do when, when they have to pay fifteen dollars for a loaf of bread? I know I, as a family, can’t afford fifteen dollars for a loaf of bread. Can you afford that? I don’t think so.
Reporter: Thank you.
Previously:
March to Give Keystone XL the Boot – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017 (August 6, 2017)
