Dear Mayor de Blasio, Comptroller Stringer, and Commissioner Jiha,

We are writing to you regarding the upcoming Banking Commission meeting on May 31 to vote on the New York City Designated Banks.

We call on you to withdraw all New York City deposits and terminate all relationships with banks that are funding the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), particularly Wells Fargo and Citibank. At the very minimum, we ask that you cease all banking operations with Wells Fargo and instead move the City's accounts to Amalgamated Bank or another bank not funding DAPL.

Mayor de Blasio, in your letter to Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan you said, “The Dakota Access Pipeline would violate the human and tribal rights of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and their sovereignty over their ancestral lands. The negative environmental consequences of the pipeline cannot be overstated.”

We are writing to you because we could not agree with your words more. However, Wells Fargo is not listening. They have ignored your letter and the mass public outcry. At a shareholder meeting in Florida, Mr. Sloan recently called Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, a “good client.” Additionally, recent reporting in a number of media sources revealed that Wells Fargo workers targeted immigrants and Native Americans to open unwarranted and fraudulent accounts.

Many cities across the country, and banks around the world, are listening to indigenous led campaigns like Mazaska Talks and joining the #DefundDAPL movement by divesting from banks that either directly invest in DAPL or offer loans and revolving credits to those entities operating the pipeline.

It is time New York City does the same. The Dakota Access Pipeline was built, but oil is not flowing. Now is the time to act. As a city gravely threatened by climate change, we cannot sit idly by and let this fracked-oil pipeline begin operating. As a progressive city, we can no longer use a morally bankrupt company like Wells Fargo that has no regard for the lives of our Native brothers and sisters -not to mention its track record of harming New York City neighborhoods.

With the upcoming elections in November, we will be watching this vote very carefully. We ask you to do the right thing by your constituents, Native Nations, and those courageous Water Protectors putting their lives on the line for clean water and Mother Earth.

Sincerely,

American Indian Law Alliance
Indigenous Environmental Network
Honor the Earth
Grassroots Action NY
NYC Youth Stands With Standing Rock
Catskill Mountainkeeper
Sane Energy Project
Food & Water Watch
Frack Action
New York Communities for Change
New Economy Project
350.org
Peoples Climate Movement NY