Giving Compass' Take:

• Native American leaders in Montana believe the Keystone oil pipeline puts their health and access to clean water in grave danger, but they are up against powerful business interests, reports The Guardian.

• What can environmental advocacy groups to find a resolution to situations like this one? Beyond the politics of pipelines, we need to do more when it comes to outreach to Native American communities.

• Here's another example of the importance of clean water access.

Lance Four Star drives west at 70 mph using his knees to work the steering wheel as he watches the Montana senator Jon Tester’s Indian Country Facebook town hall on his wife’s smartphone, the video starting and stopping as the cellular signal goes in and out on the 40-mile drive from the middle of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation to its border.

There aren’t many jobs on this 2 mllion acre reservation in Montana’s north-east corner, and Four Star is brushing up on Tester’s policy positions before an interview for a job on the Democrat’s re-election campaign, which is in its last hundred days. As a US army veteran, Four Star supports Tester’s work reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs, but disagrees with Tester on one major issue:

“‘Will you stop the pipelines from entering Montana?’” Four Star reads aloud from the comment section of the Facebook stream.

Read more about access to clean water by Hunter Pauli at The Guardian