#NoDAPL Solidarity: Army Corps of Engineers NW Division Commander Visited At Home

Submitted to It’s Going Down

On the night of November 15^th, on an international Day of Solidarity with Standing Rock, solidarity activists from occupied Chinook Illahee (Portland, OR) paid a visit to Scott Alan Spellmon, Brigadier General and Commander of the Northwestern Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He lives at 8212 NW 16th Ave, Vancouver, WA 98665.

The NW Division of the Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over the Missouri River and the contended easement of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Earlier in the day, over 1,000 people rallied in support of the indigenous resistance at Standing Rock, Oceti Sakowin territores. They called on the Army Corps to “Order a full environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline, deny all remaining DAPL permits, and sign and release a statement of solidarity with the Sioux Nation and the Water Protectors at Standing Rock.” Instead, the Army Corps again delayed its decision, inviting the Sioux Nation to join in negotiations, though it states that Dakota Access must stop construction until such a decision has been made. The Army Corps is in no position to request further negotiations.

Like all institutions, this one is made up of powerful individuals with names and addresses. Scott Spellmon is one of those people. He should use his influence to deny the DAPL permits. In an effort to persuade him, we left some reminders in sidewalk chalk outside of his house. By the morning, his entire neighborhood knew that he and his agency are complicit in the now infamous Dakota Access Pipeline.

The messages included:

“No pipelines on stolen land”

“Mni Wiconi”

“Water is life”

“Oceti Sakowin”

“#NODAPL”

“Solidarity with Red Warrior Camp”

“Protect the water”

“The earth isn’t dying, it’s being killed. Those who are killing it have names and addresses.”

It is time to take action and pressure individuals like him – other Army Corps leadership, executives of the stakeholder oil and energy companies (Energy Transfer Partners, Phillips 66, Enbridge, Sunoco, Marathon Oil), their shareholders, and the financers of the pipeline. Hit them where it hurts: their homes and private lives. Let their neighbors know who they really are – that they poison sacred water, steal, occupy, and desecrate indigenous land, have police and private security brutalize water protectors, and are complicit in environmental genocide.

Mr. Spellmon should expect more visits until the U.S. Army Corps denies the final DAPL permits and respects the sovereignty of indigenous nations.

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