With over $193,000,000 of taxpayer dollars in TD Bank, the State of Vermont is supporting one of the main financial institutions behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, a project which violates treaty rights, human rights, and environmental rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. We, the citizens of Vermont, cannot in good conscience allow our taxpayer dollars to be used to support such a shameful project, directly or indirectly.
Dear Governor Phil Scott and State Treasurer Beth Pearce,
We, the citizens of Vermont, call on you to close the State of Vermont's account with TD Bank, a major investor in the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a project which violates treaty rights, human rights, and environmental rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. In light of the ongoing abuses suffered by the Tribe in their efforts to protect their ancestral burial sites from being desecrated by DAPL and the risks that DAPL poses to their land and water, we cannot in good conscience support the use of our taxpayer money to back this project any longer, directly or indirectly. We believe that our fellow Vermonters also do not want to invest in projects like DAPL that violate treaty rights, human rights, or environmental rights.
Both Vermont Senators Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy have warned that DAPL is a “violation of tribal treaty rights” and “would have the same impact on the planet as adding 21.4 million more cars to our roads”. The force used by DAPL security and North Dakota police to ensure completion of the project has been called “excessive”, “inhuman”, and “wrong and contrary to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” by the UN Human Rights Council. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid stated that, in their opposition to DAPL, the “Standing Rock Sioux are standing up for their land, their right to clean water, their right to clean air, and their history”.
TD Securities has made one of the largest commitments to DAPL among major banks and financial institutions, contributing over $360,000,000 dollars towards its construction. TD’s investment in DAPL represents almost 10% of the 3.75 billion dollars in total extended by financial institutions internationally to Energy Transfer Partners, the parent corporation constructing DAPL. The State of Vermont has over $193,000,000 dollars of taxpayer money in TD Bank, an amount equal to over half of the money that TD has invested in DAPL.
We ask that the State of Vermont do the right thing today, and publicly renounce its association with the shameful Dakota Access Pipeline project by divesting from TD Bank.
Sincerely,
Citizens of Vermont
