Patrick,

Huge news!

Last Sunday, the United States Army Corps of Engineers announced it will reject the permit for construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline project!

Their decision will effectively bring the construction of the 1,172 mile dirty oil pipeline to a halt -- at least for now. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Standing Rock Sioux and the courageous water protectors who spent months on the ground in North Dakota. The credit for this hard-earned victory goes to them.

Although this huge win for people power over corporate power should be celebrated, we also need to be vigilant and make sure that it doesn’t get rolled back when we’re looking the other way.

The decision from the Army Corps of Engineers may well be reversed after Obama leaves office on Jan 20th. And the main company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline is still hell-bent on finishing construction -- in fact, at the very same moment as the announcement was made in Standing Rock, Energy Transfer Partners was drilling into rock under the Des Moines River in Iowa to lay down another section of the very same dirty oil pipeline.

That’s why it’s even more important than ever to target the banks funding this unethical project and convince them to sell their assets.

If you haven't yet signed the petition calling on investors to stop supporting the Dakota Access Pipeline, will you take a moment and join us now?

Our pressure is working. Last month, nearly 240,000 SumOfUs members called on banks around the world to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux. We delivered hundreds of thousands of signatures right to Bank DNB’s offices in Norway, and together we successfully got the banking giant to commit to sell its assets in the project. The next step is to get major investors like Wells Fargo, Citibank, TD Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland to follow Bank DNB’s lead.

Together we’ll continue to fight to put a stop to projects that threaten our natural resources and threaten the livelihoods of Indigenous communities around the world. And we’ll make sure that the Dakota Access Pipeline never gets built.

Until then.

Thanks for standing in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux.

Angus and the rest of the team at SumOfUs

**********

More information: 

While eyes were on Standing Rock, the Dakota Pipeline was being drilled under another water source, Fast Coexist, 6 December 2016.

Original Email:

Friends,

Over 100 water protectors were brutally arrested by Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) security forces -- some locked in dog kennels and shot at with rubber bullets and pepper spray -- just for standing up for their ancestral lands and our most precious resource, water.

Thousands have peacefully gathered in North Dakota to stop this dirty 570,000 barrel-per-day pipeline that would endanger the water and sacred burial grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Just this week, people around the world have donated and showed up in support of the protest, and "checked-in" on Facebook in solidarity.

While this inspiring work is going on, the banks we use every day, like Wells Fargo and Citibank, are backing the project with hundreds of millions of dollars in loans.

Demand that Wells Fargo, Citibank and all other financial institutions stop supporting the Dakota Access Pipeline and associated investments, such as Energy Transfer now.

North Dakota recorded nearly 300 oil pipeline spills in less than two years -- and none were disclosed to the public. It’s no wonder Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike are terrified by the prospect of this project.

DAPL was originally going to be routed near the city of Bismarck -- but was rejected because it would have run so close to municipal water sources. But for some reason, it was given a green light to put the Standing Rock Sioux’s ancestral water supply at risk to the profit of banks like Wells Fargo and Citibank.

Wells Fargo and Citibank aren’t the only banks trying to profiting off the Dakota Access Pipeline. ING Bank, SunTrust, and TD Bank are supporting the pipeline, too. These banks are vulnerable to public pressure. We are their customers and shareholders. They need our business. We can pressure them to pull out of this toxic, disrespectful project.

Stop the money, stop the pipeline. Tell financial institutions to stop funding DAPL now.

What we are bearing witness to at Standing Rock is a moment of history. We can't all be in North Dakota, but we can all stand in solidarity with those who are. Sign the petition and we'll then share with you other ways you can support the Standing Rock Sioux to stop DAPL.

Alongside Indigenous leaders and grassroots communities on the front lines, tens of thousands of SumOfUs members raised their voices together, and we helped stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Our global community has stood with Indigenous communities, contributing tens of thousands of dollars to lawsuits to stop Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline in Western Canada. We are powerful when we come together. Now, we need to come together and help the Standing Rock Sioux stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Sign the petition asking banks to stop supporting Dakota Access Pipeline now.

Thanks for all that you do,

Angus, Nicole, Toni, Reem and the rest of the SumOfUs team 

**********

More information: 

Who's Banking on the Dakota Access Pipeline? Food and Water Watch, Sept 6, 2016

The $3.7-billion pipeline that became a rallying cry for tribes across America, LA Times, Sept 13, 2016