"Faith Spotted Eagle figures that building a crude oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast would bring little to Indian Country besides more crime and dirty water, but she doubts that Native Americans will ever be able to get the U.S. government to block the $7 billion project."

"'There is no way for Native people to say no — there never has been,' said Spotted Eagle, 65, a Yankton Sioux tribal elder from Lake Andes, S.D. 'Our history has caused us not to be optimistic. . . . When you have capitalism, you have to have an underclass — and we’re the underclass.'

Opponents may be down after a State Department study found that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would not contribute to global warming. But they haven’t abandoned their goal of killing what some call the 'black snake.'"

Rob Hotakainen reports for Reuters March 1, 2014. [2]