The Cowboy Indian Alliance created this crop art image in Nebraska directly on the proposed path of Keystone XL. (Photo: Bold Nebraska)

Reject and Protect has helped shine a spotlight on the strengthening opposition to Keystone XL amongst ranchers, farmers, and Native American tribes along the pipeline route. Buoyed by the State Department’s recent delay of the project, the Cowboy and Indian Alliance has pledged to intensify their efforts to convince President Obama to "reject" the pipeline and "protect" their families, land, water, treaty rights, and climate.

 

"Every time Keystone XL gets delayed it just gives us more time to speak up and tell the truth about this dangerous pipeline," Meghan Hammond, a sixth-generation Nebraska rancher told the crowd of thousands. Ms. Hammond worked with her family to build a crowd-funded, clean-energy powered barn on her property, directly on the proposed route of Keystone XL.

 

The five-day Reject and Protect encampment began with a march and opening ceremony on Earth Day, April 22. On Wednesday, members of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance met with the White House to voice their concerns about Keystone XL and tar sands expansion. On Thursday, the Alliance hosted a protest at the Lincoln Memorial where Rosebud Sioux member Wizipan Little Elk and Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup risked arrest by walking into the reflecting pool with a sign that read, "Standing in the water could get me arrested, TransCanada pollutes drinking water and nothing happens." On Friday, the Alliance hosted an interfaith prayer ceremony outside Secretary of State John Kerry’s house, before marching through Georgetown and holding a round dance in the middle of the M St. and Wisconsin Ave. intersection.

 

"The proposed pipeline is going to be coming through our backyard," said Robert Allpress, a rancher from North-Central Nebraska. "We live in an area that is very slide-prone and TransCanada has never checked that out. They’re in the wrong place at the wrong time and we don’t need them because they’re not beneficial for the United States."

 

Reject and Protect also included representatives from First Nations communities living in Alberta, Canada, where tar sands production is devastating tribal land, water, and health. First Nations are increasingly fighting back by demanding the Canadian government honor their treaty rights.

 

"We have come to a point where we have no choice left but to lift up our inherent treaty rights — our birthrights," said Crystal Lameman, a member of the Boots and Moccasins: An Unlikely Alliance Against the Keystone Pipeline, Treaty No. 6. "The Crown and this Government do not get to pick the pieces of their law it likes and which ones it does not. They made their laws thus they have to abide by them. As First Nations people, we abide by natural law, and there is nothing natural about a people dying from cancer and suffering from respiratory illnesses caused by tar sands production."

 

On Friday, Senator Barbara Boxer offered her support for the encampment, "I commend all of the ranchers, farmers and indigenous leaders from throughout our nation’s heartland who have come to Washington, DC this week. Although I cannot be with you in person, I want you to know that your presence sends a strong signal to Congress and the administration about the need to protect our communities and families from the impacts of dirty tar sands oil."

 

Reject and Protect will end with an interfaith ceremony at the encampment on Sunday morning, but according to lead organizers, the Cowboy and Indian Alliance will continue to build its ground campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline until President Obama rejects it once and for all.

 

"This is just the beginning. The Cowboy and Indian Alliance will ride again," said Bold Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb.