Tribes question running oil pipeline under Missouri, Milk rivers

[Ptah]

FORT PECK DAM — The Missouri and Milk rivers merge just downstream from this major landmark in northeastern Montana.

At this confluence, TransCanada is proposing to run almost a half mile of 36-inch diameter oil pipeline beneath the two rivers.

Not if the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation have anything to say about it.

About 60 miles downstream from this crossing, the tribes of Fort Peck tap the Missouri River for water that's treated and then distributed across northeastern Montana through a massive, federally funded water system that will serve 30,000 residents, both on and off the reservation, when it's completed.

“We’re adamant they move it,” said Floyd Azure, Fort Peck tribal chairman, from his office in Poplar, where two sacred staffs adorned with eagle feathers stand behind his desk. “There’s no two ways about it.”

https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2018/11/28/keystone-xl-pipeline-montana-native-american-tribes-missouri-milk-river/2119311002/

Montanans view benefits, risks differently