[ACNS, by Gavin Drake] The Primate of the US-based Episcopal Church is supporting people from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation as they protest against the construction of a major oil pipeline through ancient burial grounds and underneath the Missouri River. “A rupture in its infrastructure could wreak untold havoc on the Sioux and catastrophically pollute the Missouri River, a sacred tributary that the Sioux people depend upon for their daily water,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a $3.78 billion USD (approximately £2.85 billion GBP) infrastructure project that will transport approximately 450,000 barrels of domestically produced light sweet crude oil per day from the Bakken and Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois, through a 1,172-mile, 30-inch diameter pipe. It will have a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels per day.

The pipeline is due to open towards the end of this year, but construction in some of the sites in North Dakota has been temporarily halted following growing protests by members of the Standing Rock Reservation who say that the land being used for the pipeline is where generations of their ancestors lived and were buried. And they are concerned that the pipe’s route under the Missouri River could threaten their water supplies if it leaked or ruptured.

Hundreds of protestors – some on horseback with yellow and black painted faces – have been protesting against the construction site. One carried a poster with the words “Water is a gift from the creator, respect it, and protect it.”

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said that he was “deeply moved” by the words. “In the Episcopal Church, when we baptise a new follower of Jesus Christ, we pray these words over the water of baptism: ‘We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water,’” he said. “We then recall how God used water to bless his people in the Bible, from the story of creation in Genesis, the emancipation of Hebrew slaves in Exodus, to the baptism of the Lord Jesus in the River Jordan.

“Indeed, ‘Water is a gift from the creator.’ To sustain it and to protect it is to ‘safeguard the integrity of God’s creation,’ and therefore to protect human and other forms of life created by Almighty God. That work warrants our full and prayerful support.”

Bishop Curry added: “The people of Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, standing in solidarity with hundreds of other indigenous nations and allies, are calling us anew to respect and protect this sacred gift of God, and in so doing to respect and protect God’s gift of human life.

“In protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, they recognize the gift of water to all of us, a gift given to us by our Creator. The Sioux remind us ‘mni wiconi’ or ‘water is life.’ This God-given resource courses through our mighty rivers and our human veins, working to renew and reinvigorate all of creation.

“We are called to do our part to urge decision makers to recognise and honour the efforts to protect the sacred water and burial grounds threatened by the Dakota Access Pipeline. . . A rupture in its infrastructure could wreak untold havoc on the Sioux and catastrophically pollute the Missouri River, a sacred tributary that the Sioux people depend upon for their daily water.

“I stand with the people of Standing Rock in their efforts to respect and protect the Missouri River. We know that the right to clean water is an internationally recognized human right and that all too often indigenous communities, other people of colour, and our most vulnerable communities throughout the world are the ones most at risk of losing access to clean water.

“As we join the people of Standing Rock, we also recognise that their stand is one that joins the fight for racial justice and reconciliation with climate justice and caring for God's creation as a matter of stewardship.

“This stand of men, women and children is also an important moment in the life of indigenous people. The Sioux people’s advocacy efforts to protect the Missouri River and the sacred burial grounds threatened by the oil pipeline is truly historic. Leaders of Standing Rock observe that it’s been over 140 years since such a unified call for respect and justice has been made.

“The Episcopal Church has a long record of advocating that government, corporations and other societal players respect the treaty rights of Native peoples. Standing alongside our Sioux brothers and sisters, we continue this legacy today.

“The people of Standing Rock Sioux Reservation are calling us now to stand with Native peoples, not only for their sakes, but for the sake of God’s creation, for the sake of the entire human family, and for the children and generations of children yet unborn. The legendary Sioux Chief Sitting Bull reminds us: ‘Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.’ There is the urgent need of this calling.

“So, while we cannot all physically stand in the Camp of Sacred Stones today, let us hold, both in spoken word and silent prayer, the aspirations of the Sioux people and urge our policymakers to protect and responsibly steward our water, the sacred gift from God that sustains us all.”