Karine Martel, citizen of the Métis Nation, is from Manitoba, Canada, but has found home amongst the other Indigenous students at Carolina and at the American Indian Center. Karine strives to bring visibility to the concerns of Indigenous People both in and out of the classroom. Most recently, she has showcased opinions and perspectives that American Indians in North Carolina have surrounding the proposed plans and expected installment of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Karine conducted several interviews with key informants from NC Tribal communities and reported her findings in a paper provided below.
Background on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline:
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline meant to start in West Virginia and end in North Carolina. In North Carolina, the pipeline is proposed to enter through or near tribal lands of three state-recognized tribes of North Carolina: the Coharie Indian Tribe, the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, and the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. While the media has covered the environmental impacts of the proposed pipeline on endangered species and national parks, as well as the perspectives of many environmental groups, practically no work has been done on the perspectives of these tribes.
Karine will be graduating in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in American Indian and Indigenous Studies and Political Science with an Environmental Studies Minor.
To read Karine’s paper and further understand the perspectives that many NC American Indians have regarding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, click the following hyperlink to PDF.