AOC claims 'high correlation' between fossil fuels and violence on indigenous people

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AOC: Fossil fuel industry has a 'high correlation' to violence and abduction of Native women

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says 'the data speaks for itself' on her claim regarding the correlation of violence and fossil fuels.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said during a congressional meeting that there is a "crisis" of missing and murdered people from Black and indigenous communities, and added the fossil fuel industry was partially to blame. 

"Today, I want to discuss part of this crisis that is all too often overlooked, but whose evidence shows that there's a very meaningful connection here: The correlation between fossil fuel extraction sites and abductions and murders of indigenous women across the United States," Ocasio-Cortez said during a March 3 hearing on "The Neglected Epidemic of Missing BIPOC Women and Girls."

She then asked a witness, "Why is it that oil, gas and fossil fuel extraction sites have such a high correlation of violence and abduction against Native women?"

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) departs after a meeting between President Biden and Democratic lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol, October 1, 2021. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

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Angel Charley, the executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, argued that the fossil fuel industry creates "man camps" near the proximity of Native people's communities. 

"We know that when these man camps or temporary establishments are created, that there is an increase in violence and particularly sexual violence against our Native women," Charley said. 

Workers remove a large clamp from a section of pipe during construction of the Gulf Coast Project pipeline in Prague, Oklahoma, March 11, 2013.  (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

AOC proceeded to question about "ruthless" oil companies. "Am I right to understand that companies building these oil pipelines are often ruthless in their resistance against protesters and sometimes even encouraging violence against them?"

"That is correct," Charley responded.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a meeting of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform June 12, 2019. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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AOC concluded by saying that the "data speaks for itself."

She said, "The ACLU of North Dakota also reported that 411 missing murdered, and indigenous people were kidnaped or murdered in states affiliated with pipeline projects, and that 10% of these cases occurred in counties where the Keystone Pipeline alone is proposed to be built."