Abstract
Keystone XL is a proposed tar sands pipeline that would carry 800,000 barrels per day of tar sands oil across the United States. TransCanada recently completed construction of the southern part of the Keystone XL pipeline through Oklahoma and Texas, and wants to expand its pipeline system by adding a northern section to the Keystone XL pipeline.
If approved, the northern segment of the Keystone XL would carry tar sands oil from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, into the ra_neries in Texas. It would run through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
If built, the proposed northern sec- tion of Keystone XL pipeline would cross through the Great Sioux Nation treaty lands as de_ned by the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaties.
At the present time, the proposed project has not yet acquired the Presidential Permit, and a large number of various organizations are heavily protesting against the project, referring to the large-scale negative impact on environment. In my article, I would like to focus on the actions of Oyate Wahacanka Woecun [Shield the People], which is a project of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to oppose the Keystone XL.
Apart from its environment-protection dimension, the project also reect the issues of cultural identity, tradition and intercultural cooperation. As a part of the protest, a Spiritual Camp has been built up in the proposed line of Keystone XL.
Supported both by the tribe and by people who came to visit the camp often from great distance, the Spiritual Camp puts together political and spiritual resistance; local concerns and global issues. In the light of resistance to the global issue of protection of environment the issue of tribal identity plays a significant role and is dealt with from new perspectives.