Protesters in South Londonderry Township in Lebanon County also drew strength from the fight by the Sioux as they dispute two proposed pipelines locally: the Atlantic Sunrise and the Mariner East projects.
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On Tuesday, people in North Dakota, Washington, DC and other USA states rallied against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will move crude oil through four states from North Dakota to IL.
The Dakota Access pipeline, which is being built by Energy Transfer Partners, would stretch 1,172 miles from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa, before terminating in IL.
Demonstrations took place at more than 100 events including in the cities of St. Paul, Minnesota, Detroit, Boston and Louisville, Kentucky, in addition to Canada, Japan and Portugal.
“While the Corps opposes the Tribe’s current motion and believes that it should be denied, the Departments believe that the pipeline company should implement the relief that the Tribe is seeking voluntarily”, the agency’s lawyer wrote in its filing.
On Friday, the Obama administration halted construction of the pipeline on federal land near the Missouri river while the Army Corps of Engineers reviews its permitting decisions.
Federal government agencies intervened last week after a district court ruled in favor of the pipeline construction, calling for a temporary halt to construction on parts of the pipeline until the Army Corps of Engineers can determine a full range of environmental and other federal policies.
Heitkamp said demonstrators have a right to peaceful protest, but not to threaten pipeline workers. We owe a debt of gratitude to Native Americans who are standing up for their self-determination-and, through their resistance, for all of us.
The company released a letter letter to its employees yesterday, according to Reuters, which dismissed worries of water contamination as “unfounded”, and said the pipeline would address other safety concerns.
It is beginning to look like this pipeline is going through for the financial benefit of very few, but at a cultural cost to very many. Indigenous people from across the U.S. are living in camps on the Standing Rock reservation as they protest the construction of the new oil pipeline which they fear will destroy their water supply.
The letter, offering a spirited defense of the project said, “We intend to meet with officials in Washington to understand their position and reiterate our commitment to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline into operation”.
The protests in North Dakota have led to several arrests. “We have people all over the world standing in solidarity with us”.
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“Energy Transfer Partners has demonstrated time and time again that the bottom line for them is money”, he added.
