Standing Up at Standing Rock

I would like to voice my opinion - keeping it short and sweet - about an issue that could be catastrophic to our Missouri River and the surrounding bodies of water that flow downstream.

Many are not aware of a movement that is happening right now to our neighboring state in North Dakota.

The Bakken Oil company is now wanting to place a pipeline “black snake” that could run through Standing Rock Indian Reservation on sacred ground and burial sites in North Dakota, which could carry up to 570,000 gallons of crude oil a day downstream. When it does break it will cause our waters to be contaminated and in the end no water source, not only to North Dakota, but downstream to the many other states the Missouri River flows past.

This affects everyone who drinks water, uses the river for recreation use and the living species in the water that live near or along the Missouri River and our future. Not only as a nation but as a community we should come together to stop this from happening.

My father, Ernie Sugg and I traveled to Standing Rock to stand in solidarity and to be apart of the many Native American Tribes that were present including the tribe we came from Red Bottom Assiniboine and North Cheyenne. Over 400 Nations were there and it's growing.

This is history in the making and the movement is spreading worldwide. You do not have to be Native American Indian to be a part of this movement. Its for anyone who uses water. For more info, visit standingrock.org.