Water Protector Legal Collective

On May 21, 2026, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed a new Record of Decision approving an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath Lake Oahe.

The decision formally closes the latest federal Environmental Impact Statement process ordered after Standing Rock Sioux Tribe successfully challenged DAPL’s prior approval in court.
The decision does not erase what communities have raised for nearly a decade.

DAPL crossed Standing Rock Sioux Treaty territory without free, prior, and informed consent and without meaningful Tribal consultation. Concerns surrounding water risks, Treaty rights, sacred places, and the expansion of extractive infrastructure imposed without consent remain.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has made clear that this fight is not over.

Water Protector Legal Collective continues this work as co-counsel alongside Jeff Parsons and Peter Capossela in support of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as the Tribe continues defending its Treaty homelands, waters, and sacred places.

Nearly ten years after Standing Rock, Mni Wiconi lives forward.
Water is Life.


 


A new global analysis from the Business & Human Rights Centre documents nearly 800 attacks against human rights defenders in 2025 alone.

These include killings, threats, intimidation, criminalization, surveillance, and SLAPP suits targeting people who raise concerns about corporate abuse, extraction, labor exploitation, and environmental destruction. Nearly one third of those attacked were Indigenous defenders.

Across the world, communities protecting land, water, forests, labor rights, and sacred places are confronting escalating repression alongside expanding corporate and extractive power.

This violence reflects a broader global pattern in which defenders are treated as obstacles to profit rather than people defending collective survival, human rights, and future generations.

The report describes this moment as a global crossroads: who is protected, who is silenced, and whose interests are prioritized will shape the future of climate justice, democratic participation, and human rights worldwide.

In the face of corporate abuse of power, frontline communities and human rights defenders continue resisting extraction, criminalization, and impunity. WPLC contributed a short reflection on ten years of resistance at Standing Rock and the ongoing struggle against DAPL, published alongside reflections marking nearly a decade since the assassination of Berta Cáceres and the continuing fight for justice.

 
 


Lakota youth are currently locked down to drilling equipment at Pe’ Sla in the Black Hills.

Community members are gathered in prayer. Drilling is being physically blocked as this unfolds.

Pe’ Sla is a sacred site. What is happening here reflects a broader pattern of intrusion onto Indigenous lands and the defense of places that cannot be replaced.

“As youth we have nothing to lose and everything to win. We will put our bodies on the line. This is the Lakota way of life. We do this so our people can live.”

The company has indicated that law enforcement is on the way.

There is an active call for support. Tribes, Nations, organizations, and collectives are being asked to sign onto the “Stop the Drilling at Pe’ Sla” letter.

If you are nearby, presence matters.

“We will keep our heart beating.”

📸 Photos by 


 


Action alert!

Public comments are open on a proposed 742-megawatt natural gas plant on Navajo Nation.

If approved, this project would authorize significant emissions with long-term impacts on air quality, public health, and surrounding communities.

The EPA is currently accepting comments on the draft permit.
This is a critical opportunity to raise concerns, document impacts, and ensure community voices are part of the official record.

Deadline: April 29, 2026
Submit via Regulations.gov (Docket ID: EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0028) or email [email protected]

The transition to renewable energy is accelerating, and so is the demand for transition minerals.

Lithium, cobalt, and nickel are essential to building batteries and clean energy systems. But the extraction of these materials is expanding into Indigenous lands and ecologically fragile regions across the world.

The result is a growing tension:

Can the energy transition be truly sustainable if it depends on continued extraction?

A just transition must go beyond replacing fossil fuels. It must center Indigenous sovereignty, respect the right to consent or refusal, and protect land and water from further harm.

Climate solutions cannot replicate the systems they seek to replace.