WENONAH HAUTER, via Seth Gladstone, sgladstone[at]fwwatch.org
Hauter is the founder and executive director of Food & Water Watch. Her books include Frackopoly: The Battle for the Future of Energy and the Environment.

She said today: “After months of unceasing pressure from peaceful water protectors at Standing Rock, people backed by unprecedented unity among North American tribes, it’s not surprising that President Obama has been forced to comment on the controversial Dakota Access pipeline. Now he needs to act. The federal government is failing indigenous communities seeking to protect their sacred lands from indiscriminate desecration, driven by the corporate-driven assault of oil development and destruction. And in suggesting that the pipeline could just be rerouted, Obama misses the key element of resistance to Dakota Access: all new fossil fuel infrastructure must be halted immediately, because our planet is on the brink of climate crisis and there is no excuse for building another 40 years of fossil fuel infrastructure. And no communities should be forced to host a dangerous and destructive fossil fuel pipeline. For the sake of all Americans’ future health and safety, the only acceptable outcome of the Dakota Access situation is to shut the project down for good.”