Oglala Sioux Tribal Officials Meet with AOC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (center) meets with (from left) LPLP Director Dan Nelson, LPLP Lead Counsel and OST Public Relations Liaison Chase Iron Eyes, OST President Julian Bear Runner, and OST Legislative Liaison Mike Catches Enemy

Published June 16, 2019

WASHINGTON  Fighting the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline has been a focus of several tribes in recent years. With that purpose in mind, tribal officials from the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) recently visited Washington, D.C. to voice their concern about the proposed pipeline that is a focus of the Trump administration.

KXL’s dirty tar sands oil also presents an extreme danger to Mother Earth’s climate. Before Trump revived it, President Obama shut KXL down when public outcry brought the world’s attention.

The tribal delegation went to Capitol Hill to meet with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a member of Senator Bernie Sanders senate staff.

Leading the tribal delegation was OST President Julian Bear Runner.

“As the Green New Deal’s champion, AOC has provided an inspiring vision showing how we, as a society, can change course to properly respect our Grandmother Earth,” commented Bear Runner after the meeting.

AOC, originally inspired to run for Congress during a trip to Standing Rock in 2016, expressed her support for OST’s current efforts to combat the Keystone XL pipeline. AOC expressed, she understands that a leak could poison water across the Midwest. KXL threatens not just surface water like the Platte River, but also the Ogallala Aquifer — an enormous underground water source sharing its name with OST and stretching beneath eight states.