Veterans at Standing Rock Headed to Flint to Address Water Crisis | Sojourners

Veterans at Standing Rock Headed to Flint to Address Water Crisis

Oceti Sakowin Camp, Cannon Ball, ND. Image via @anomadphotog. 

Wesley Clark Jr., the head of Veterans for Standing Rock — a group of more than two thousand U.S. military veterans who went to Standing Rock to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline — announced last week that the organization is headed to Flint, Mich., reports ABC News. There, the veterans will assist in dealing with the town’s dire water situation.

“We don’t know when we are going to be there, but we will be heading to Flint,” said Clark Jr. 

The group's decision to address Flint’s water crisis was announced after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline, preventing the pipeline from being built on the sacred land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

On Dec. 10, the U.S. Senate approved the use of $120 million dollars to address the Flint water crisis, according to USA Today. The legislation also passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In order to fix the situation in Flint, Karen Weaver, the mayor of Flint, believes that all of the lead water pipes in the city must be replaced.

“Our tap water still is not safe to drink without using a filter, an unfathomable situation for any city in this great nation,” she said.

Read more here.