Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco
Issue: Environmental and Social Justice
Program Topic: Dakota Access Pipeline Divestment Protest at TD Bank in Bangor, Update on DAPL and Standing Rock, Council on American-Islamic Relations Federal Suit on Muslim Ban
Key Discussion Points:
1) On Saturday, January 28th, close to 300 people demonstrated at TD Bank’s Stillwater Ave, Bangor branch in Bangor. TD Bank, along with 16 other financial institutions, including Wells Fargo and Citibank, are major investors in the Dakota Access Pipeline, which is slated to cross Standing Rock Sioux treaty lands, directly above their reservation and under the Missouri River’s Lake Oahe, source for the area’s water supply.
2) At the end of last year, the Army Corp of Engineers withheld granting the necessary easement to construct the pipeline segment near Standing Rock until the EPA could conduct an Environmental Impact Statement. The Trump administration, however, is pressuring for an expatiated approval.
3) We also speak with the Council on American-Islamic Relations on their federal lawsuit on behalf of 20 individuals challenging the constitutionality of the Trump Administration’s Muslim travel ban.
Guests:
A) participants in Standing Rock/TD Bank protest including: June Sapiel, Penobscot tribal member, Don White, Bucksport resident, Kimberly Hammill, Bangor Racial and Economic Justice Coalition, Cecil from Waterville, Margot Roberts, Bangor, Isis Moon, Bangor, Mariah Helms, Monroe
B) Jade Begay, Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) ienearth.org indigenousrising.org
C) Lena Masri, Council on American Islamic Relations, litigation director and acting civil rights director cair.com
This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.